EpaperISB_21-08-30

Monday, 30 August, 2021 I 21 Muharram, 1443 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XII No 60 I 48 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Government expands Covid-19 restriCtions to 27 Cities PDM to march on Islamabad to oust Imran’s govt: Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD

t

staff report

he government on Sunday extended stricter coronavirus-related restrictions to 27 cities amid rising pressure on the already fragile healthcare regime.

Coming into force from September 1, the new set of restrictions include the closure of amusement parks, shrines, gyms and cinemas, and a ban on indoor ceremonies and dining at restaurants, according to a statement by the National Command and Operations Centre.

All businesses — except for es-

sential services — will end at 8:00 pm and remain closed for two days a week. educational institutions across the country will remain open for three days a week with 50 percent attendance.

Meanwhile, trains have been allowed to operate at a 70 percent capacity, the new guidelines suggested.

The body will review the restrictions on September 13.

The decisions, the NCOC said, were taken in view of the growing number of Covid-19 infections and the ensuing pressure on the healthcare apparatus. Previously, these

Coronavirus in

pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,152,481

LAST UPDATED AT 10:05 AM ON AUGUST 29, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

69

3,909

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,033,373 25,604 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

429,422

389,688

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

160,759 AJK/GB: 31,861/9,855

32,157 ISLAMABAD:

98,739

guidelines were only applicable to 13 cities, including Lahore.

Pakistan is currently experiencing a fourth wave of the disease, logging 3,909 fresh cases and 69 deaths over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of National health Services said.

The country has been recording daily cases between 3,000 and 4,000 for the past several weeks, putting pressure on the already over-burdened hospitals, especially in the big cities.

All the while Pakistan has continued its inoculation campaign against Covid-19 with the milestone of over 50 million vaccine doses administered achieved on Friday.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement — which had a falling out in February — is now seemingly making a comeback after having held a large rally in the port city, wherein they reiterated their old promises of a long march to Islamabad to oust the Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Addressing the rally in Karachi’s Bagh-e-Jinnah on Sunday, Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz President Shehbaz Sharif said PM Imran made false promises to the people of Sindh and Karachi.

Speaking of the addresses delivered by Baloch leaders before him, which centered around the province’s deprivations, Shahbaz said that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his party will “stand by them to get them their economic, social and legal rights”. he recalled how “Imran Niazi” had visited Karachi in March 2019 and promised a Rs162 billion development package for Sindh, and especially Karachi, adding that the premier then announced in 2020 a developmental package worth Rs1,100 billion for the province.

Shehbaz said except few pennies, PM Imran did not fulfill his promise of providing funds to the province.

Shahbaz said that the people are being “lulled into a false sense of security” with “false promises”. he credited his elder brother and former premier Nawaz Sharif for stabilising country’s economy and restoring law and order in the port city.

US drone strike hits IS suicide bomber in Kabul: officials American forces launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday targeting a suicide bomber in a vehicle who was aiming to attack the airport, US officials said, as the United States nears the end of its military presence in the city.

The strike is the second carried out by US forces in Afghanistan since a militant Islamic State (IS) group suicide bomber struck the airport on Thursday, killing 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians trying to flee the country.

There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighbourhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The Taliban initially described the two strikes as separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce and witnesses heard only one large blast on Sunday in the Afghan capital.

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden said the situation on the ground remained extremely dangerous, and that his military chiefs had told him another militant attack was highly likely within the next 24-36 hours.

US officials had said they were particularly concerned about the local affiliate of IS at-

“Nawaz Sharif in collaboration with the provincial government eliminated the menace of extortion and sack-packed bodies from Karachi,” he added.

Shehbaz also recalled “hours-long loadshedding, daily wagers returning home to no fans and living in mental anguish, no smoke coming out of industrial chimneys, businesses wrapping up and agricultural fields drying up out of resource deprivation”. he said it was in the PML-N era that for the “first time in Pakistan’s history”, power projects were installed that generated 1,100MW of electricity.

“Now Karachi’s lights once more shine bright, industries are working full throttle and livelihoods that were lost due to a shortage of power, have once more returned,” he added.

Turning his guns back to PM, he said that “he would say that if the rupee slides down even by one unit versus the dollar, then the leader in power is corrupt”. “he would say if electricity costs rise, then the premier is corrupt, if inflation is on the rise, the premier is corrupt.”

Shehbaz said prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed due to the “flawed policies” of PM Imran-led government.

“Imran Khan while sitting in sprawling palace of Bani Gala talks about making Pakistan a Madina-like state.” news desk

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

Pakistan in red list over low testing and sequencing rates: UK govt STORY ON BACK PAGE

Military to brief MPs on Afghanistan, Kashmir today STORY ON PAGE 02

tacking the airport as American troops depart, in particular the threat from rockets and vehicleborne explosives.

One US official said Sunday’s strike was carried out by an unmanned aircraft piloted from outside Afghanistan, and that secondary explosions following the strike showed the target had been carrying a “substantial amount of explosive material”.

Witnesses reported an explosion near the airport and television footage showed black smoke rising into the sky.

Two witnesses said the blast appeared to have been caused by a rocket that struck a

house in an area to the northern side of the airport, but there was no immediate confirmation.

Following Thursday’s suicide bombing, the US military launched a drone strike on Friday that it said targeted members of the group in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.

That strike killed two “highprofile” IS-Khorasan planners and facilitators and wounded another, the Pentagon said.

US military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport on Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline earlier set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all troops from America’s longest war. reuters

US in final phase of Kabul evacuations as Taliban say ready to take over airport STORY ON BACK PAGE in today’s issue

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02

monday, 30 august, 2021

islamabad

news

Military tO brief MPS ON afghaNiStaN, KaShMir tOday ISLAMABAD

M

STaff RePoRT

ORE than 50 members of the Senate and National Assembly standing committees will receive a briefing from the top military leadership on the developing situation in Afghanistan on Monday (today) at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

In addition, the parliamentarians, both from the treasury and the opposition benches, will also be briefed on the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir, it was learnt.

After two decades of direct intervention and spending a total of $2.26 trillion, Washington has decided that the future of Afghanistan is for its people to decide, confirming it is committed to withdrawing its troops by the August 31 deadline.

The attendants would be briefed by the director general military operations, Maj Gen Nauman Zakaria, on the evolving situation in Afghanistan and Kashmir and the policy adopted by Pakistan to address the developments.

The committees attending the meeting

include the Senate standing committee on defence headed by Mushahid Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, National Assembly standing committee on defence headed by Amjad Ali Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the parliamentary body on Kashmir led by Shaheryar Afridi of the ruling party.

The briefing was scheduled at the request of the bodies that sought to get an insight into the matters in the wake of the withdrawal of the foreign troops from the neighbouring countries.

The members are directed to reach the venue by 9:30 am where the defence and foreign affairs and national security secretaries will brief the MPs. The session is expected to be followed by a two-hour-long meeting with the army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

In a similar briefing in July, the military and intelligence leadership called for avoiding divisive politics on issues of national interest, cautioning that strategic challenges and related policy shifts in external relations could have repercussions for the country.

During that meeting, the participants were told that external forces had already started

Sindh announces travel restrictions for unvaccinated citizens

exerting pressure on Pakistan in the wake of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

It was said that Pakistan was not only kept on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force despite implementing 26 of the 27 points of the action plan agreed with the

ISLAMABAD TLTP

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that peace and stability in Afghanistan will benefit the entire region. In a statement on the prevailing situation in Afghanistan, the foreign minister said the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan are well aware of the situation there and cautioned that the worsening situation in Afghanistan would affect them all.

He said that Afghan people have been bracing the devastating impacts of decades of war and they want durable peace. He said that Afghan people are suffering due to mistakes made in the past. The foreign minister said everyone should learn from their past mistakes and not repeat them.

He appreciated the positive signals coming from Afghanistan, in a reference to the conciliatory messaging the Taliban have been putting out since their

TLTP

NCOC daily update: 3,909 new cases, 69 deaths from Covid-19 ISLAMABAD STaff RePoRT

Pakistan reported 3,909 new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Centre said on Sunday. Amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, the overall tally of the infected people climbed to 1,152,481 across the country, the department leading the campaign against the pandemic said. Sindh province has been the worst hit, with a total of 429,422 cases, followed by Punjab, where the virus was detected in 389,688 people. A total of 25,604 people died of Covid-19, including 69 patients who lost their lives to the pandemic over the last 24 hours, the NCOC said. The country currently has 93,504 active cases, while 1,033,373 others have recovered. The vaccination drive in the country has also picked up the pace, with some 39,951,787 partially vaccinated and 15,269,699 fully inoculated in the country, according to the latest official data.

Angela Ageler, that Pakistan had no favourites in Afghanistan and its sole aim was to help achieve a peaceful and stable neighbour.

He also condemned the attack at Kabul airport and expressed grief over the loss of life.

Peace and stability in afghanistan to benefit whole region: Fm

kARACHI In a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19 and speed up the vaccination process, the Sindh government has announced new restrictions for unvaccinated people. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Sindh transport ministry said that unvaccinated people will not be allowed to travel in the vehicles dedicated for the educational institutions after September 30. It added that those who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus will not be allowed to use vehicles carrying employees of any office after October 15, he added. Earlier on August 24, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar had said those who have not been fully vaccinated against coronavirus will not be allowed to use public transport from October 15. Speaking during a media briefing along with SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, Asad Umar had said that school teachers and staff will not be allowed to work after October 15 if they have not taken the jabs. The chief of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had said that vaccination had been made mandatory for air travel after September 30, while those working in schools and transportation sector must take their doses before the date. He had said that the government is taking steps to curb the virus spread for which vaccination is important, adding that a single dose vaccination is necessary for travelling on highways after September 15, while after October 15, no one will be allowed to use the motorway without vaccination.

illicit financing watchdog, but the goal post had also been changed. Islamabad has now been told to additionally implement a separate six-point action plan given by the Asia Pacific Group, a regional affiliate of the body. Last Friday, Gen Bajwa conveyed to the American charge d’ Affairs in Islamabad,

takeover of Kabul on August 15. “The Taliban leadership is in contact with everyone,” he said, urging the international community to not isolate Afghanistan, as it would have an adverse impact on the country.

He said the international community is acknowledging Pakistan’s role in evacuation of diplomatic missions of various countries from Afghanistan.

The foreign minister said that India has been the top spoiler and playing a negative role against Pakistan and for this purpose, it has pulled together different terrorist groups to carry out terrorist activities.

He warned that India is trying to destabilise regional peace and stressed upon keeping a strict vigil over such designs. “India is peddling negative propaganda to discredit Pakistan,” Qureshi said, adding that New Delhi is persistent in its pursuit of depriving the region of peace. “There are concerns; we need to remain cautious,” he added.

Pakistan cannot prosper without prosperity in Karachi: shehbaz NewS DeSk Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President and Opposition Leader of National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday said that Pakistan cannot prosper if there is no prosperity in Karachi, adding that a political party has acted unfairly with the port city in the last three years.

The PML-N president, while addressing party workers in NA-249, said that the extraordinary Karachi which is an economic as well a cultural hub has accommodated every type of person with open arms.

Shehbaz Sharif added that he prays to Allah to change the fate of the port city in his life.

The teary-eyed opposition leader said that Karachi had been receiving a “step-motherly treatment,” from the Centre, adding that the entire country’s development is linked with that of Karachi.

He further said that the city which generates revenue of trillions annually is struggling to even find one gallon of water. If PML-N is given a chance, the party under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif will transform the city, he claimed.

The opposition leader further said that Nawaz Sharif freed the city from sack-packed bodies and extortion and brought back peace in the metropolis.

It was a big achievement of PML-N supremo but one political party is oppressing the nation for the last three years, he added.

During his Karachi trip, the PMLN president paid visited the homes of political leaders to extend his condolences over deaths in their families.

Shehbaz met the sons of the former president late Mamnoon Hussain at their home. He said Hussain’s services for the party and democracy would be remembered for a long time. Hussain was a straightforward, ideological and knowledgeable personality, he said.

The PML-N President also visited the residence of the former governor of Sindh, the late Mumtaz Ali Bhutto and extended his condolences to his son Amir Bakhsh Bhutto and other members of their family.

He offered prayers for the late governor and said he played a key role in Sindh’s politics and was part of many important events of history.

The National Assembly Opposition Leader also went to the residence of Jalal Mahmood Shah, son of GM Syed to express his grief over the demise of his brother Amir Haider Shah. He prayed for the late Shah and strength for his family to brave the loss. He said GM Syed played a crucial role in the creation of Pakistan.

The PML-N resident went to

Kingri House and met with the Head of Muslim League Functional and Spiritual Leader of the Hurs Pir Syed Sibghatullah Shah Pir Pagara.

He extended his condolences to him and his brother Syed Sadruddin Shah over the demise of their mother and prayed for her afterlife.

He also expressed his grief to Pir Pagara over his wife’s death. Pir

Pagara’s son Syed Rashid Shah was also present.

Shehbaz said he had lost his mother too and could relate to the pain and grief of the family. He said the Pagara family, their ancestors and their hurs played an unforgettable role against the autocracy. He paid tribute to them for their services and sacrifices for Pakistan.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

03

BIlAwAl sAys no one CAn snAtCh AwAy joBs grAnted By PArlIAment

P

News Desk

AKISTAN People’s Party Chairnman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Sunday vowed to appeal against a Supreme Court verdict that declared a PPP-era law unconstitutional and illegal, saying that “no one can snatch away jobs given by the parliament”.

Under the PPP-era Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Ordinance Act (SERA) 2010 law, a number of people had been employed or given promotions who had been forcibly sacked from various institutions and departments by successive governments during 1996 and 2007.

The SC, however, found that the SERA extended the undue advantage to a certain class of citizens, thereby violating fundamental rights under Articles 4, 9 and 25 and being void under Article 8 of the Constitution.

Earlier this month, PPP had appealed to the Supreme Court to review its verdict that declared SERA 2010 illegal and unconstitutional.

In his address today to a worker’s convention in the city, Bilawal said that PPP will provide relief to all those people from whom jobs have been snatched, reported Geo News.

Speaking of the three-year performance of the PTI government, he said: “Prime Minister Imran Khan is celebrating three years of destruction in Islamabad.”

Bilawal said that in these last three years, unemployment and poverty “reached their peak”.

“When one province suffers, it is painful for all other provinces,” he added, referring to Sindh being

sidelined by the Centre.

He recalled how Benazir Bhutto “aimed to create employment opportunities for the people of Pakistan”.

“Benazir Bhutto provided jobs to 16,000 households and Imran Khan took away jobs from all those people,” he said.

“The selected prime minister promised to create one million job opportunities, however, instead of providing jobs he took away jobs from the people who were already employed,” he added Bilawal said that because of PM Imran Khan, 10,000 employees of Pakistan Steel Mills were abandoned and their households had to suffer.

“We ask Imran Khan what he is doing to employ the people of Pakistan, as millions of youngsters have lost their jobs during these last three years,” the PPP chairman said.

Shedding further light on Imran Khan’s “unfulfilled” promises, he said: “The prime minister promised to construct five million houses. I ask him is Khairpur not a part of Pakistan? How many houses have been constructed in Khairpur so far?”

He claimed that in Sindh, five million people lost their jobs.

“People of all provinces have lost their jobs,” he added.

“As youngsters suffer because of unemployment under the rule of all other political parties, Pakistan Peoples’ Party will make sure it creates jobs for the youngsters,” he promised.

“We will not tolerate any injustice. The water crisis (in Sindh) should be resolved fairly, or else we will conduct protests across the country as announced in Hyderabad earlier,” the PPP chairman said.

Concluding his speech, Bilawal said: “We need the support of all

jiyalas (loyalists) across Pakistan.

Because when jiyalas come out they fight for their rights no matter what era they are in.”

“We trusted many friends but all of them cheated us,” he said.

“Now PPP’s jiyalas are enough.

We will stand on our own feet and do our own politics,” the PPP chairman added.

Separately, former prime minister and Leader of Opposition in Senate Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would start a mobilization campaign of party workers in South Punjab from September 03.

Talking to media persons at his Multan’s residence on Sunday, he said that the schedule of Bilawal Bhutto has been confirmed which was earlier postponed due to certain reasons.

Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said that

PPP Chairman would reach Multan on September 3 and would leave for Rahim Yar Khan on September 7 and then to Sindh on September 9.

During his visit to South Punjab, the party chairman would meet different people and party workers to mobilize them, he added.

He said that PPP was regaining support not only in South Punjab but also across the country due to its public-friendly ideology.

The Senate opposition leader said that the party leadership rendered sacrifices for the country.

Shaheed Zulifqar Ali Bhutto given the constitution to the country in 1973 which was accepted by all political parties, he added.

He said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto signed a charter of democracy for strengthening democracy in the country.

Gilani said that Pakistan

People’s Party had passed 104 amendments in the constitution during its tenure in 2008 and implemented the 1973 constitution in its real form.

He said that political stability was a must for economic stability in the country adding that there was not even a signal political prisoner during his tenure as prime minister.

The former prime minister urged the government to fulfill its pledge regarding the establishment of South Punjab as a separate province.

He said that Kashmir was an essential part of Pakistan and added that PPP stands by the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Gilani said that Modi’s government could not defeat the struggle for the independence of Kashmiris through torture.

He lauded the sacrifices of the

20,000 evacuees landed at Islamabad airport since Kabul takeover IsLAMABAD STaff RePoRT

4 PIA planes bring 12m doses of Covid vaccine from China News Desk Four special flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carried a fresh batch of 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccines from Beijing to Islamabad on Sunday. The PIA airlifted the Sinovac vaccine doses obtained from China and brought it to Pakistan for the people under the government’s ongoing prevention and control drive against Covid-19. The PIA Country Manager for China said, “PIA special flights PK-6852, PK-6853, PK-6854 and PK-6856 transported 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccine procured from China for vaccination of people under government’s ongoing prevention and control drive against Covid-19 pandemic.” He further said that under able leadership of its Chief Executive Officer, Arshad Malik, the national flag carrier had so far airlifted 57 million doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccine through 47 special flights. He added, “Till now, PIA has brought around 17 million doses of Sinopharm and 40 million doses of Sinovac and CanSino vaccines from China to Pakistan.” It is worth mentioning that the government under its mass vaccination drive has set a target to vaccinate 75 million people by the end of 2021. So far, over 51 million vaccines have been administered.

Chinese vaccines namely Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino, besides other vaccines, are being used in the mass vaccination drive. The health authorities launched the nationwide vaccination drive with around a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by China, starting with older people and frontline healthcare workers, in March this year.

Over 20,000 people from Afghanistan have landed at Islamabad International Airport following their evacuation from the war-battered country in the wake of the Taliban takeover.

As many as 332 flights of military jets and private airlines have landed at the airport since the start of a tumultuous rescue effort on August 16 to evacuate people stranded in Afghanistan.

Later, the planes had also left with the passengers onboard to other countries.

The evacuation flights have been limited to Islamabad airport only, after previously being planned in

three other cities as well.

The flights for transit passengers from Afghanistan will now be operated by the Islamabad airport only after such operations were suspended from airports in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.

“We had made special arrangements at the Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore airports but now those have been suspended,” a report citing sources said.

Pakistan has accepted the requests made by the United States and NATO to provide assistance in the evacuation of its people from Afghanistan.

The US embassy in Islamabad had also requested the government to grant permission for transiting the passengers via military aircraft under three categories: diplomats, citizens, Afghan nationals and foreigners.

No wheat shortage anywhere in Punjab: Aleem LAHORe TLTP

Punjab Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan said on Sunday that there is an abundance of wheat available in the market and there is no fear of any kind of shortage anywhere in the province.

In a statement issued on the current situation of wheat in Punjab and some media reports in this regard, Aleem Khan further said that the Punjab government and the food department are keeping a close watch on the situation in the food market and wheat is not being released at the official level so far as it is not needed at present.

He said that the government releases wheat at the official level only when it is required. He said that some elements want to put pressure on the Punjab government to release wheat for higher profits while wheat is already available in large quantities in the open market.

He said that a bumper crop of wheat has been harvested this year too and the best price was paid to the farmers as well.

Kashmiri people for their struggle for self-determination and said that the people of IIOJ&K would get their independence soon.

To a question, Gilani said that the Pakistan Democratic Moment was started after consensus among all opposition parties adding that the Pakistan People’s Party was not in favor of resignation from the parliament.

He said that the decision of rejoining PDM would be made by the Central Executive Committee of the party, not by any individual.

Responding to another question about the ongoing situation of Afghanistan, he said that 3.5 million Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan since the Soviets attacked Afghanistan in 1979 adding that United States and other countries seemed to have forgotten it.

Gilani went on to say that like others, PPP was also in favor of sustainable peace in Afghanistan adding that the party was monitoring the situation and also the statements of the Taliban.

He maintained that all countries should develop a consensus on the Afghan issue to ensure peace in the region. He also spoke about the protection of basic rights, women’s education, and minorities’ rights there.

Gilani further stated that he demanded a joint session in the senate to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. He also lauded the government for successful evacuation operation in Afghanistan which was also being acknowledged by the world.

He said that Pakistan People’s Party was regaining public support and various people were ready to join PPP. With additional input from INP

two soldiers martyred in attack from across Afghan border RAwALPINDI aPP

As many as two soldiers of Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom on Sunday after terrorists from inside Afghanistan opened fire across the international border on a military post in Bajaur district. The Pakistan Army troops responded in a befitting manner, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) news release. “As per intelligence reports, due to fire of Pakistan troops, two to three terrorists were killed and three to four others sustained injuries,” it said. The soldiers martyred in exchange of fire were identified as Sepoy Jamal (resident of Mardan, 28 ) and Sepoy Ayaz (resident of Chitral, 21 ). The ISPR release further said that Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that existing and future setup in Afghanistan would not allow such activities against Pakistan.

Five-year-old girl drowns as heavy rain lashes rawalpindi News Desk

Aleem said that the food department wants to ensure uninterrupted supply of wheat and flour till the end of the season of this year.

He said that a good wheat crop is expected next year and hopefully there will be no shortage for the general public and the Punjab government will take all steps in this regard.

A Rescue 1122 official on Sunday said that a fiveyear-old girl was drowned in a stormwater drain in Rawalpindi's Habib Colony after heavy rain in the city, according to Dawn. As per the report, Rafaqat Chaudhry said that the girl died after she fell into the water and was swept away for a kilometre into the drain before being pulled out by locals. He said that the rescue team tried to administer CPR to revive the girl. He added that the angry residents refused to hand over her body and tried to attack the rescue personnel. WASA spokesperson Umar Farooq said that a stormwater drain in Peshawar Road's lane number four had burst and rainwater had seeped into homes, causing difficulties for people, adding that Wasa staff had been deployed to different areas of Rawalpindi and water extraction was being expedited in low-lying areas.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

04 NEWS

ISLAMABAD

YDA Gives 24-hour ultimAtum to Govt to withDrAw Nle LAHORE

m

inP

EMBERS of the Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) ended their protest in Lahore on Sunday and gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the federal government to take back National Licensing

Examination, warning of a protest outside the Pakistan Medical Commission in case of non-compliance.

The PMC has made it mandatory for all graduates who are currently doing a house job or are ready for it to clear the NLE exam for their permanent registration. Both MBBS and BDS students must clear the test for their permanent job and

medical practice.

The move has agitated the medical fraternity which has been protesting for the past many months.

But as things turned worse on Sunday, the police pepper-sprayed the protesting medics in a bid to stop them from marching towards an NLE examination site.

The association claimed the police

Photo by Zubair MehfooZ

strong-armed the protestors. During a clash with the police, several protestors fainted and many others fell ill.

Earlier on Friday, as many as 40 doctors were injured when police batoncharged them to stop them from entering

the examination centre at Barkat Market neighbourhood.

Police also stopped them and made an attempt to disperse them which they resisted.

At this, the police resorted to baton charge, tear gas shelling and water cannons.

Gold likely to move sideways after 2.04pc gain on weekly basis ISLAMABAD TlTP

ISLAMABAD: A view of pleasant weather after rain in the federal capital. Online

Crude prices jump up to 11.54pc

Metro bus service remains suspended for second day amid employees’ protest LAHORE inP

NEWS DESK Oil prices surged up to 11 percent last week, their biggest weekly gain since October last year, as Gulf of Mexico oil operators shut the production ahead of a hurricane expected to pass through the Gulf in the weekend.

According to details, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world's oil, gained 11.54 percent during the week to reach $72.70 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $68.74, up by 10.62 percent during the week. During the week, the price for Opec Basket surged to $70. 75 with 7.06 percent increase, Arab Light price increased 7.43 percent to $72.81 a barrel, while the price of Russian Sokol jumped 7.57 percent to reach $71.48. A weaker US dollar and crude and gasoline inventory draws, as estimated by the EIA, supported oil prices. However, the oil market is looking at the OPEC+ meeting scheduled for Wednesday, which will determine the future course of action for prices. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, will discuss the previously agreed increase of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the next several months. Analysts are divided over the outcome of the meeting as ING strategists Warren Patterson and Wenyu Yao told oilprice.com on Friday that they don’t expect any change to the production policy and continue to believe that OPEC+ will ease supply cuts by 400,000 bpd in September. “OPEC+ will take some comfort in the fact that we have seen a fairly swift recovery in oil prices from the lows of last week,” they further said. On the other hand, Kuwait's oil minister told Reuters on Sunday that the increase in oil output agreed last month by OPEC+ nations could be reconsidered at its meeting. "The markets are slowing. Since Covid-19 has begun its fourth wave in some areas, we must be careful and reconsider this increase. There may be a halt to the 400,000 (bpd) increase," Mohammad Abdulatif al-Fares told Reuters on the sidelines of a government-sponsored event in Kuwait City. Economies of East Asian countries and China remain affected by Covid-19 and caution must be exercised, Fares added.

Metro bus service in Lahore remained suspended for a second consecutive day on Sunday due to a protest of its employees over the non-payment of dues. Staffers and drivers of the buses have been protesting since Saturday over the nonpayment of bonuses, gratuity and a demand for experience certificates.

Residents of the city are facing problems while commuting due to the suspension of the service.

In a similar incident last week, the drivers staged a sit-in at the Gajjumata Metrobus Depot in protest, resulting in the suspension of the service.

The largest mode of public transport in the provincial capital, metro buses carry more than 100,000 people daily to densely populated neighbourhoods and industrial zones located along its 27 kilometres long track.

After closing the last week on a positive trajectory, gold price is likely to move sideways in the week starting Monday (today).

Gold price gained 2.04 percent on a weekly basis and surged to its highest level since early August to close at 1,817.80 per ounce last week due to heavy selling pressure surrounding the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the price of gold surged by 3.50 percent in Pakistan during the week, mainly due to depreciation of rupee against the US dollar. The local currency depreciated by 0.88 percent against the US dollar during the week. The price of 10 grams of yellow metal in Pakistan was Rs94,000 at the opening of the last week and it increased to Rs97,300 to close the week.

The weaker greenback allowed gold to climb above $1,800 at the start of the week.

However, gold struggled to clear the key resistance area that seems to have formed at $1,810 mid-week as investors moved to the sidelines while waiting for FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Nevertheless, with the US dollar suffering heavy losses on Friday on Powell’s remarks, gold surged to its highest level since early August.

Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator has climbed to 60, suggesting that there is more room on the upside before gold becomes technically overbought. The initial hurdle is located at $1,830 (static level) ahead of $1,845 (static level).

On the downside, $1,810 (100-day SMA, 200-day SMA) aligns as key support.

As long as this level holds, buyers are likely to remain in control of gold's action.

A daily close below $1,810 could open the door for additional losses toward $1,800 (psychological level) and $1,780 (static level).

During this week, the weekly US Initial Jobless Claims and July Factory Orders will be featured on Thursday ahead of Friday’s August jobs report. A disappointing NFP print could allow gold to push higher. On the other hand, a positive surprise could help the US dollar regain its strength and drag gold lower.

PSX likely to remain range-bound this week KARACHI TlTP

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is likely to remain range-bound in the coming week starting Monday (today) due to the Afghan situation, despite four backto-back red sessions in the previous rollover week.

The evolving situation in Afghanistan, depreciation of Pakistani rupee against the US dollar and Covid concerns also hit the market hard, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding around 975 points in the last four sessions. Overall, the KSE-100 index dived 463 points (around 1 percent) to close the week at 47,136.53 points.

Moreover, profit-taking was also due in the start of the week because of heavy green sessions in the end of the preceding week and on Monday last when the market gained around 500 points. The receipt of $2.75 billion from the International Monetary Fund by the State Bank of Pakistan under the SDR allocations failed to restore investor interest.

Bears ruled four out of the five trading sessions at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). Trading kicked off on a bullish note as investors' interest in index-

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heavy sectors, a significant jump in international oil prices and news reports of Airlift – a Pakistani start-up – securing $85 million in Series B funding triggered a rally in exploration and production and technology sectors. Bulls drove the index over the 48,000-point mark on Monday. However, the positive momentum was short-lived as bears staged a comeback on Tuesday and dominated the rest of the four sessions. Unfortunately, the market failed to sustain the momentum and fell below the 48,000-point mark.

However, the investors are expected to react to the news of the three-year economic roadmap announced by the government for 14 key sectors and the newly launched Roshan Apna Ghar scheme this week. The week ended with Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin announcing the Roshan Apna Ghar scheme for overseas Pakistanis which would allow them to buy a home in Pakistan and apply for attractive financing through their Roshan Digital Accounts.

Average daily traded volume increased 44.6 percent week-on-week to 384.09 million shares while average daily traded value rose 11.6 percent week-on-week to settle at $78.65 million.

Sector-wise major losers were refinery (4.6 per-

cent), oil and gas marketing companies (4.1 percent), cement (3.7 percent) and power (2.6 percent). Meanwhile, exploration and production, banks, and the auto sector contributed positively to the index.

Scrip-wise, positive impact came from Yousaf Weaving Mills Limited, Pakistan Services Limited, Systems Limited, Punjab Oil Mills and Archroma Pakistan Limited. Meanwhile, Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited, Service Industries, Gadoon Textile Mills and Azgard Nine led negative contributions. Foreigners remained net sellers as they offloaded stocks worth $4.4 million against $10.82 million last week.

Significant selling was witnessed in the cement sector.

Among other major news of the week; foreign investors’ repatriations declined 21 percent on a year-onyear basis, the external account improved in July as the SBP reported a current account deficit of $773 million and trade deficit for July 2021 stood at $694 million, an 18 percent month-on-month decline.

According to experts, regional geopolitics will have an influence on the market as another explosion was reported in Afghanistan capital Kabul, days after a suicide bombing killed dozens of people at the city’s overcrowded airport.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

ISLAMABAD

NEWS

CM Buzdar set to uplift fort Munro with projeCts worth rs900M DERA gHAZI KHAN TLTP

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UNJAB Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Sunday laid a foundation stone of eight different projects, worth Rs900 million, for the development and progress of Fort Monroe, besides inaugurating some projects there.

The chief minister visited Fort Monroe, a tourist spot of DG Khan, accompanied by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, Minister of State Zartaj Gul, and others.

The chief minister inaugurated the Solar Lights Network and Parks and Horticulture at a cost of Rs100 million.

He inaugurated the 5km-long Fort Monroe to Langar Khandsar link Road, which has been completed at the cost of Rs290 million.

Buzdar also inaugurated the project of up-gradation and provision of basic facilities in Fort Monroe Resort. This project has been completed at a cost of Rs50 million. He inaugurated the restoration project of historic buildings and annexes in Fort Monroe. This project has been completed at a cost of Rs50 million.

Later, he laid the foundation stone of the Fort Monroe Water Supply Scheme. An amount of Rs90 million will be spent on this scheme which will resolve the problem of drinking water in Fort Monroe on a permanent basis.

The chief minister also laid the foundation stone of a new project, worth Rs100 million, to promote tourism in the area of Koh-e-Suleman. He also laid the foundation stone of Fort Monroe Rescue 1122 Station project which will cost Rs55

million. Buzdar also laid the foundation stone of the up-gradation project of Fort Monroe High School. An amount of Rs30 million will be spent on the upgradation of Fort Monroe High School.

The chief minister was also briefed on various development projects including Fort Monroe Cadet College and Welfare Complex. The DG Koh-e-Suleman Development Authority briefed the chief minister about the progress of different ongoing development projects in the area.

The chief minister while addressing the notables, tribal elders and people in Fort Monroe said that Koh-e-Suleman Development Authority has been fully

activated. He further disclosed that funds of Rs5.7 billion have been reserved for the development and the welfare of the people of the area.

He said that basic problems of the area including roads network and water supply will be resolved. The Punjab government has given 100 acres of land for Fort Monroe Cadet College. A total of Rs2.80 billion will be spent on this cadet college, he said.

The incumbent government has released funds of Rs1 billion immediately for Fort Monroe Cadet College and this project will soon be inaugurated. He said that another cadet college would also be set up in the area of Koh-e-Sule-

man for which a feasibility study is being conducted.

He said that work is being carried out to set up a Solid Waste Management Company in Fort Monroe to address the issue of sanitation, adding 108-km of roads are being constructed in Koh-eSuleman and Fort Monroe. He added that Fort Monroe will be declared an urban area through a master-plan.

Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani while commending the vision of the Punjab chief minister for the composite development said that the credit for the rapid development of remote areas of Punjab goes to Buzdar.

He said that the Punjab chief minister believes in delivering. The chief minister has proved that he is the real advocate of the people of the backward areas.

Minister of State Zartaj Gul while addressing the tribal elders and notables of the area in Fort Monroe said that the chief minister has given the due rights to every district by achieving sustainable development. Buzdar has taken such steps for the progress and development of Koh-e-Suleman and Fort Monroe which no chief minister had been able to do in the 73 years. She paid tribute to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for his efforts.

Chairman Punjab Land Record Authority Sardar Ahmad Ali Drishak said that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has included far-flung and backward areas in the journey of development. Buzdar has always understood the issues, sorrows and grievances of the common man and always strives for resolving peoples’ problems, he added.

the Benefits of the taliBan CITy NoTES M A NIAzI

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NE of the supposed benefits of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was supposed to be that there would be peace for that wartorn country. Of course, the main reason was that the Taliban had taken the position that they would spread disorder themselves if not allowed to rule. Indeed, one of the reasons they have some support in Pakistan is that they had established law and order. Of course, that implied criticism of the local cops, who had failed to bring law and order to a situation satisfactory to the ordinary citizen.

Thus the blast at the Kabul Airport, which led to the death of 13 US servicemen, as well as 100 Afghans, was a bit of a disappointment. There are a number of explanations for why that happened, but the fact remains that it did. ISIS might well have been responsible, but it would be far to ask the Taliban why they let them carry out the blast. Were they

just practicing to stay in touch, or should we expect the Karachi Airport to be bombed if the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan was ever to take over?

If that were to happen, not that it is likely, whatever some people might wish, I wonder who would crowd the airport? One of the contributing factors for the Kabul chaos was the fact that people are still trying to get onto US planes out of Afghanistan. It seems that the Taliban are learning something that Imran Khan learned much earlier: opposition is much easier than governing. Of course, Imran has found governing a breeze. At the ceremony to celebrate three years in office, he was upbeat. It seemed that everything was on track: not only was a new Pakistan being built, but accountability was going wonderfully, with vast sums being recovered.

Oh yes, and there’s no inflation. The air rings with the blessings being showered on Imran and his team by the people.

He is also a guide to the Taliban. They too should remember that all the problems of the country were caused by the corruption of previous regimes, Of course, if they could blame it on Nawaz Sharif, that

would be very welcome, but until then, Ashraf Ghani would do very well.

Also, the Taliban just have to make sure that they get the inswinging yorker right. Cricket is another danger, and the postponement of the Pakistan-Afghanistan ODI series because of the war harks back to World War II when Test cricket was suspended for World War II. There were no neutral venues then.

Now that there’s a former captain as PM, it was only right to make Rameez Raja Chairman of the PCB. The last time a former Test captain, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, was in charge, there was a player rebellion over the Packer Circus. And Imran was one of the players who preferred the money.

Ramiz was not exactly. The greatest of captains, though he had been seen as a future captain from the time he captained the Pakistan-Under 19s that played the Australian Under-19s that toured here back in1980. When he finally got the job, he only captained in 5 Tess, losing two and drawing two. He led in 22 ODIs, winning 7 and losing 22. He was actually more of an ODI

player than a Test player, scoring 2833 runs and only two centuries in 57 Tests, but 5841 runs in 198 ODIs with nine centuries. He was a member of the 1992 World Cup team 1992, but he had the grace not to win a World Cup himself as skipper. Apparently, his job would involve making the national team win, but really it will be to do something about Shaheen Afridi.

Shaheen Afridi bowled Pakistan to a series-leveling win against the West Indies with a 10-wicket haul. The West Indies gifted him those wickets from envy of Imran, whose success they could not stand. However, Shaheen still has a long way to go. There’s a World Cup to be won, a Jewess to be married…

But maybe both Imran and Shaheen should realise that they too will face the fate of ‘Ted’ Dexter, the former England captain who passed away at 86. He was also noted for his looks, and though he never became PM, was known as Lord ‘Ted’ because of his aristocratic ways.

He captained Sussex too, Imran’s county team. I wonder where Shaheen will go?

05

Value addition crucial to boost exports: sarwar LAHORE APP

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has advised industrialists, academia and researchers to join hands for developing new value added products which were crucial to boost exports. In a virtual address to an international e-conference—Nascent Drifts in Industry (NDI-2021), he said the present government also laid emphasise on value added manufacture products and their exports for bringing economic prosperity to the country. The two day econference was held from August 28 to 29 wherein researchers participated from multiple countries including USA, Turkey, China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, UK, Czech Republic and Zambia. Textile Wing director general, State Minister of Education Maldives Dr Abdullah Rasheed and Textile Institute UK World President Katie Greenyer attended the event as guests of honour. “New trends always bring new innovations that lead towards prosperity of nation,” he remarked.

He congratulated the organizers of event including Textile Institute UK (Lahore Section), GARA Global Malaysia and CCN University Bangladesh for holding a valuable virtual two-day conference in such crucial times of pandemic. The governor also appreciated efforts of researchers Dr Hafsa Jamshaid C Text FTI and Dr Allah Dad for ensuring fruitful discussion on the conference’s topic by inviting multiple researchers from across the globe. He said the topic of conference related to Nascent Drifts in Industry especially in the field of fashion and textile was important and needed to be discussed for betterment of the sector. Such conferences were imperative to bring academia and industrialists together for better outcome.

india attracts $22.5bn in foreign direct investment in april-june NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows of $22.53 billion during the first three months of the fiscal year starting on April 1, 90% higher than the April-June period last year, the government said on Saturday. India's automobile industry accounted for 27% of the total FDI equity inflow, emerging as the brightest sector in Asia's third-largest economy, followed by computer software and hardware and the services sectors which accounted for 17% and 11% of the inflows respectively, the trade ministry said in a statement. "Measures taken by the Government on the fronts of FDI policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business have resulted in increased FDI inflows into the country," the statement added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has cut corporate tax rates to woo manufacturers and revive private investment, introduced new farm laws and passed labour reforms aimed at making hiring and firing workers easier.

PDM to march on Islamabad to oust Imran’s govt: Shehbaz cONtINuED fROm pAgE 01 Shehbaz said PM Imran is unaware of the issues being faced by the masses and pledged that if PDM is elected into power it will get rid of inflation, unemployment and other prevailing issues.

Addressing the rally from London via a video link, Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan is on the verge of “destruction” because of the conspiracies hatched against democracy by a few individuals.

The former premier said that if he was not ousted from power through “conspiracies” then the situation of the country would have been much better today.

“Elected prime minister was removed from power through ‘Panama episode’ and

Imran Khan was installed into power through rigged elections,” he added.

Nawaz blamed the undemocratic forces for the country’s downfall, saying a handful of people have occupied the resources of the country while the masses were suffering due to inflation and unemployment.

He added that few individuals have sabotaged the country’s democratic system by stealing the people’s mandate.

Moreover, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the three-year performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has revealed how the government has turned the state and the people “unsecure”.

The PDM chief said that while other nations continue to progress, Pakistan “has only regressed”.

“Of course, amid all this, we cannot sit quietly and idly by. We have sworn to raise Pakistan’s ranks among the great nations of the world,” he said.

Fazlur Rehman said that due to unforeseen circumstances, such as the COVID crisis, PDM’s activities had undoubtedly been impacted, and people began to criticise how the movement has become silent, “but this sea of people, your enthusiasm bears witness that you are alive, the PDM is alive, and we will continue our journey forward without being stopped”.

He said that the PDM reiterates that “this government is illegal”.

“It has no mandate. It came into power through fake votes. They are seated in power with the use of force.

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“We will combat them all, including those that support such imposed leaders upon us,” the PDM chief said.

A separate area for women attendees was prepared, next to the stage.

A steady flow of participants continued to arrive at the venue. Interestingly however, women attendees were not visible, despite protection promised by the PDM. Stringent security measures are reported to be in place, with a large police presence, aside from the Razakar force.

The police contingent deployed at the venue includes 25 senior officers, 65 Deputy Superintendents of Police, and 3,748 police personnel.

Women security personnel have also been stationed there, with 30 of the total 93

belonging to the Special Security Unit of Sindh Police.

The police have encouraged people to report any suspicious activity immediately on the 15 police helpline.

Special arrangements have been made for the flow of traffic around the Bagh-e-Jinnah area. A day earlier, Fazlur Rehman announced multiple anti-government rallies nationwide soon.

He said that a nationwide movement will be launched against the government and a white paper will be issued on the three-year performance of the government.

Asked about the participation of women in the Karachi rally, the PDM chief said that women would come to the meeting and they would be given full protection and respect.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

06 COMMENT

Single National Curriculum and teaching certain subjects in Urdu

PDM lurches on Without PPP, opposition alliance looks toothless

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He Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will not engage in opposition to the PPP, which will probably be pleased at this kindness, though PDM chief Maulana fazlur Rehman has accused it of ‘backstabbing’. How exactly the PDM hopes to achieve its stated goal of removing the PTI government without the PPP does not appear possible because the numbers simply do not add up. Maulana fazal did appear to have scaled back the PDM’s goals by saying that it would go against the government with full force and would organise rallies and caravans across the country. That, it seems, is something the government can withstand.

The PDM seems to have come together for Senate elections and to have broken up as soon as the PPP failed to get its candidate elected as chairman. It was also perhaps too much to expect the PML (N) and the PPP, which have been opposed to one another, but which are expecting to be rivals at the next election too, to remain together for too long. The PML (N)’s indecision over what position to adopt towards the establishment, symbolized by the respective positions of President Shehbaz Sharif and Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, was also no help. The PPP found itself having to achieve its own understanding with the establishment, which means that it no longer put its full force behind the PDM. Also, the PPP was the only PDM component with a stake, as it was in government in Sindh, and was least likely to follow the clamour of resignations from the Assembly.

This tactic is still on the table, according to Maulana, who is not in any House himself.

However, the PPP may find it needs the PDM to deal with the challenge it faces in its home base, Sindh. It has now been in office there since 2008, and for the first time faces a serious challenge, as the PTI intends to extend its footprint to interior Sindh, having already successfully dented the MQM at the last election. If Sindh does become up for grabs, what is to stop the PML (N) from seeking some advantage in the process? If instead of the support it could expect from an alliance partner, it was to face a political rival out to do the best for itself.

Opposition unity might still be a far cry, but it would seem that the current move shows that the opposition parties still need unity to face down the current government.

The SNC must be implemented carefully

Dr Omer JaveD

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He federal Ministry of federal education and Professional Training, recently launched a Single National Curriculum (SNC), where the vision indicated as ‘One system of education for all, in terms of curriculum, medium of instruction and a common platform of assessment so that all children have a fair and equal opportunity to receive high quality education. Single National Curriculum is a step in that direction.’ The Ministry indicated that it had reached the SNC after consultation with various stakeholders, including all the federating units. The effort to reach a curriculum that allowed equal opportunity to all students in the country is indeed welcome, and something to be celebrated.

Having said that, the goal of any curriculum is to allow students to reach optimal opportunities, and all steps should align with this objective. Sadly, the current curriculum falls short on this account. Moreover, for national cohesion and a sense of one national uniform identity, it is indeed essential to teach the national language, in our case Urdu, to our students. It is also important to dismantle the colonial mindset that societies inherit from their colonial times, and as an ‘affected society’ more than the colonial language itself, in our case english, emulate their lifestyle as superior to our own. But in our case, this need not mean teaching subjects like science, social studies for instance, as

Covid-19 pressures Government may be running out of options

Post-USA Afghanistan

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f the NCOC has not already run up against a barrier of old-fashioned plain, dumb insolence from the general public on the issue of vaccinations, it soon will, and then it will find itself up the creek without a paddle. The NCOC has decided on new, more strict, penalties to persuade people to get vaccinated, because it fears that otherwise any failure would lead to a disastrous increase in infections, which would in turn lead to the sort of pressure on the healthcare system as would cause it to collapse. As it is, it is also pretty close to doing so. The culprit behind all of this is the coronavirus’ delta variant, which is not just more deadly, but more infectious.

Though vaccinations continue apace, with 50 million doses having been administered by friday, the country is still a long way from achieving the sort of vaccination coverage that might confer herd immunity. However, there seems to be a limit to how many people will be forced to get vaccinated by such measures as forbidding them from travelling or stopping them from getting salaries. Instead of such velvet gloves, the government may find that it may have to uncover the mailed fist, and instead of all such ‘hidden’ coercive measures, it will have to use the obvious power of the state.

The problem has not spiralled out of control, as was to be observed in neighbouring India, where at one point the dead were left lying in the streets, and where the healthcare system actually did collapse. That was because of the delta variant which originated there. The crisis has not reached such stark extremes, but that should be no cause of complacence. It is near enough that extreme that it may spiral out of control. The key lies to efficient vaccinations, and the government must ramp up availability.

Afghanistan must have the Taliban U.K. Dar

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N April 2021, the USA announced that it would close its military mission in Afghanistan

by September 2021. The Taliban, who were controlling a few pockets of rural Afghanistan then, ramped up attacks on the Afghan National Army (ANA) and areas under their control. By the first week of August 2021, the Taliban started capturing provincial capitals which began to fall in rapid succession. On August 15, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and Afghanistan was left with no government. The Taliban entered the capital despite announcing a few days ago that they would not attack Kabul, as chaos and anarchy could have engulfed the city in the absence of any security forces.

Two weeks have passed since the takeover of Kabul but no official government has been announced in Afghanistan yet. The Taliban leadership seems to be in no hurry to form a government and is meeting with other leaders like Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah to reach a political settlement. It seems that they had realized that stable governing will need to include ethnic minorities, or else the country risks falling into the same sort of civil war that erupted in the 1990s.

History tells us that ending wars is relatively easy as compared to building peace after the end of the war. Anna K. Jarstad in her work titled The Peace In Between argues that peace in a war-torn country is normally violent, sometimes more violent than the war itself. She further explained that lasting peace can be achieved when international organizations impose sanctions on the warring parties and force deweaponization and demilitarization of the conflict zone and called it a “pacified peace”.

However, this cannot be ensured in Afghanistan as major international forces were themselves a party in this war and the USA has left so much military equipment while withdrawing that it is sufficient for raising a military for a medium-sized country. So, is peace even possible in Afghanistan?

The Taliban in their earlier stint in the 1990s were

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is being indicated under SNC that would be taught in Urdu, and not in english, because optimal knowledge of these subjects, the subject vocabulary one needs to gain to reach out knowledge at the global level, all require these being taught in the language that allows this; which in this case is english. On the other the informal institutional determinants like imparting better analytical capabilities to augment mental constructs in students to allow them to reach better cognition of religion, national identity, customs, and culture.

So while it is important for reaching national cohesion and a sense of Pakistani identity, and in turn breaking the affected mindset with roots in superiority complex imbibed from colonial times, to bring better understanding of Islam, and other religions to their followers respectively, since the core of all religions is based on universally shared ethics, it is also important to not create another inequality of opportunity for national students, whereby by not studying these subjects in english, they will not be able to access information, knowledge, research skills that require knowing this language, and the underlying subject vocabulary.

Moreover, one of the concerns that are being addressed in SNC is to allow equal opportunities to all students, where previously Urdu-medium schools were taught sciences and social studies in Urdu, which did not enable them to gain knowledge, articulation, and needed sense of critical thinking, given the literature in Urdu is neither deep in terms of research, nor wide in terms of global foot-print to allow this, so that is why it was important to bring them at par with those studying in english-medium schools. even switching to these subjects being taught in english in higher classes will not be the same in terms of needed preparedness of students, when compared with those who study a certain subject in the most desirable language from the very beginning, in enabling such preparedness. Is it optimal to teach students in Urdu, subjects like science, geography, economics, among others, during their formative years when learning capabilities are the highest in terms of cognition and mental constructs, and then would have to unlearn or amend a lot of these subjects— both content and vocabulary— into english, given more optimal knowledge standards and research literature in that language for higher standards?

So, while the spirit of SNC is right to remove this disparity of opportunity, the direction it has taken is the opposite to what it should take— that is towards transitioning the Urdu-medium schools to the level

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able to de-weaponize Afghan society and hence brought peace to the country. Though there were international concerns about human rights and women’s education, their achievements in eradicating poppy crops and de-weaponization have been acknowledged by all.

Peace in Afghanistan can only be ensured if all the regional powers play their positive role and do not support any local warlord for projecting their proxy wars in the region. Afghanistan is a tribal society with warlords exercising control over their tribes. Most of the warlords have either fled the country or surrendered to the Taliban, but their influence on their tribes cannot be easily diminished by the Taliban.

One of the leaders, the son of the slain Tajik warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud, and deposed Vice President Amrullah Saleh have already set up a base in the Panjshir valley, north of Kabul, and have announced resistance against the Taliban. Their success, however, depends on whether they can gather support from overseas, especially India or Tajikistan.

Tajikistan supported Ahmad Shah Massoud during the earlier Taliban government of the 1990s, however, the power dynamics and the on-ground situation has changed. Russia and China, the new regional superpowers, have already held talks with the Taliban leaders and given a hint of recognizing their government. Russia has already ruled out allowing redeployment of the American military forces to the countries neighbouring Afghanistan and thus it is quite unlikely that Tajikistan will be willing to support the Tajik warlord Massoud. Moreover, the Taliban have made a deliberate strategic move by capturing all the entry points to Afghanistan, including the Shir Khan Bandar pass with Tajikistan, thus

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where they can also study the needed subjects in english. In addition, the Ministry should continue to revise upwards the overall standards so that the subjects being taught are up to date in terms of knowledge levels reached globally.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan urged english language be learnt — and not the ways of english in terms of culture and personal identity— so that modern knowledge in subjects where english provided such knowledge and skills, more so than any other language, could be reached at and utilised for finding solutions both at the global level, making contributions to resolving global problems, and with regard to finding solutions of indigenous problems in the light of that knowledge. And the first best way to approach such subjects like science, geography, among others, is to learn them from the very beginning in that language. Switching later on will always hold the less optimal outcome for students in terms of learning, articulation, and critical thinking and innovation, and will not overall allow Pakistani students to be at par with others who studied from the earliest level of their education. SNC should aspire for transitioning all students, from their initial base in terms of private schools, government schools and ‘madaris’.

So, while it is important that religious education is being emphasized in the SNC, and that it rightfully creates an educational environment that brings uniformity of national identity, and greater national cohesion, it is also important that subjects are taught in the language that allow students to reach educational objectives in the highest optimal way. Policies that last are open to reflection and revision for the betterment. It is, therefore, hoped that the SNC will truly work as a living document, and the concerned authorities will internalize the above arguments in the same positive light, to create healthy discussion, and timely revision of the SNC in this direction.

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund.Prior to this, he did MSc. in Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom), and worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics (Pakistan), among other places. He is author of Springer published book (2016) ‘The economic impact of International Monetary Fund programmes: institutional quality, macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth’.He tweets @omerjaved7

ruling out any major ground support from there.

Thus, all-out support for Massoud is quite unlikely if not impossible.

India on the other hand has been a major loser in the present scenario. Its heavy investment in Afghanistan has gone to waste as it had not developed any contacts with the Taliban and was supporting the government of the Northern Alliance throughout.

Therefore, India can try to support an insurgency movement in Afghanistan by supporting Massoud and Amrullah Saleh as they did in the 1990s by establishing hospitals and providing military support for the Northern Alliance against the Taliban. However, with no direct ground link to Afghanistan, it would be an almost impossible task to provide any substantial military support to its proxies on the ground.

The future of Afghanistan is with the Taliban; the earlier this is understood, the better. Western powers led by the USA have learned it the hard way.

Twenty years of trying to impose the puppet government and providing it with billions of dollars of aid and arming ANA with the most sophisticated of weaponry has all proven to be a futile effort. The real thing is that the Taliban was and is a political reality in Afghanistan.

Now, it is a big challenge for the Taliban to form a government in Afghanistan that can ensure lasting peace in the region and an all-inclusive government seems to be the step forward.

Some activities by the anti-peace forces may be carried out like the recent terrorist attack at Kabul airport, but it should not deter the world and let the Taliban establish their rule and then only be held accountable. It is equally important that the future government of the Taliban fulfils its international responsibilities and for the international community to accept them as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. Any efforts on the contrary would create an unstable Afghanistan and that can again become the breeding ground for terrorism that the world wants to avoid at all cost.

Some activities by the antipeace forces may be carried out like the recent terrorist attack at Kabul airport, but it should not deter the world and let the Taliban establish their rule and then only be held accountable.

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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U.K. Dar is a freelance contributor based in Manchester, UK

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 30 August, 2021

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Beauty standards THe obession over the white complexion in our society exists from a long period of time. It is really disheartening to hear that someone got rejected due to his/her skin color, not being white enough or being too dark. The craze for having a white skin is so much that there are specific injections to convert the skin whiter. Many use home remedies for glowing skin. We can see the advertisements for promoting fairness creams which show that a girl or boy with fair skin can easily achieve anything without any judgment. The concept of white being beautiful has its root in history, and till today, we calling ourselves educated still believes the same old senseless ethic. Despite being Muslims, we easily discriminate others due to dark skin tone when our religion clears that everyone is equal. People are more than their skin colors. Hazrat Ali (R.A) said,“ Your souls are precious, and can only be equal to the price of paradise, so do not sell them for anything else”. These words by Imam Ali (R.A) clearly shows that actual beauty lies in our soul that is worth paradise.

Fiza NaSir TurbaT

The Failure of Pakistan’s Middle Class How it gave up on society

Nasir HUssaiN

A

S the world moves into the egalitarianism of the 21st century, the atmosphere in our country remains bleak and uncertain. The continuous chain of sexual violence occurring since last year; starting from Lahore Motorway incident to the recent sexual assault of an innocent girl at Minar-e-Pakistan, is just a glimpse of the social and ethical deterioration of the nation.

The desecration of Ranjit Singh’s statue in Lahore was another such event emboldening the raging extremist ideology. The regular occurrence of such acts clearly points towards the impending doom of anarchy upon this nation.

By analyzing the socio-political history of Pakistan one arrives at the following underlying cause of this fundamentalist anarchy: the lack of active participation by the middle class in state affairs. The Middle class is defined as an aggregate of social groups holding an intermediate position between the ruled and the rulers. It has a beneficial stabilizing influence on the society and holds the keys of social progress. This class is endowed with excellent social cognizance and prestige while performing the struggle towards social and economic progress in the country.

According to social science, the hallmark of this class is its high educational attainment. It bears neither the explosive fundamentalist tendencies of the lower class, nor the absolutist tendencies of upper class.

There was a time when the political processions, conventions and rallies comprised intellectuals and the learned middle class; but today you see illiterate lower class masses waving party flags and chanting irrational slogans. After the 1970s the middle class has completely detached itself from politics, religion and social philosophy. One finds its members turning a blind eye towards the state’s affairs.

In the past whenever a social, political, religious disparity occurred, ot there was some untoward event, the middle class (educationalists, professors, journalists, lawyers, doctors,

members of NGOs and even religious clerics acquainted with modern philosophy) were the first to react, and compelled the authorities to take action and thus maintained an essential check on state affairs. But now except journalists all other sections of the middle class shy away from voicing their opinion on current injustices and incidents. Thus a vacuum has been created.

And who filled the vacuum? Of course the illiterate lower class and fundamentalists.

You hear matric fail people spending hours on debates and futile discussions on state affairs. You see ignorant masses passing statements about other religious sects, having not read even a single book. You hear unschooled individuals ranting for hours about a particular political party, after having read only newspapers in the last decade.

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty of the bad people but the silence over that by the good people”, said civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr And what has the electronic and social media done? It strengthened the illiterate lower class even further. It has provided them a platform to share their uncultured, unqualified designs to millions across the country. People who don’t even know how to read and write are sharing videos, applauding one ideology and negating the other. You see, the comments on facebook are nothing but a heap of uncultured ideas and slur words.

Hearing one religious fact somewhere and then using it in every situation and comment without knowing its origin and context.

You are scrolling through the Instagram search and facebook watch, what does facebook show you in recommendation: humorous videos that are more into vulgarity than humor. every obscene video slides into our facebook recommendations.

How? This algorithm is a feast for the illiterate lower class, they just need to keep scrolling and the content keeps coming and doubling the vulgarity.

It is worthwhile to mention that in the early years the middle class carried on its shoulders the burden of changing the nation. Professors at Universities after work hours, had discussion

The first ever Christian missionary school in the Indian Subcontinent was established in 1849 at Rang Mahal in Lahore by Dr. Charles W. Forman. This school is still serving the nation but not as effectively as it had been serving under Christian administration since 1849 till the nationalization in Bhutto regime.

groups with faculty and students, sharing opinions and having thoughtful discussions on state affairs. During that era one would get to read the insightful debates of writers and their enlightened readers in the “Letters to the editor ” sections of newspapers.

It was a period when the educated wanted their opinion to be heard and propagated.

Another trait of the middle class used to be its capacity to keep itself pure through rigorous consideration of newcomers. A considerable heed was paid to the youth and those recently moved into the middle class. It was like the passing on of an Olympic flame, the flame of enlightenment in each generation. But today, the outburst of rote learning institutes in every rural and suburban tehsil, have devastated the learned middle class through its unchecked production of uncivilized and uncultured students.

The self-imposed exclusion of the middle class did not happen overnight, rather in a systemic way it was bolstered by the country’s establishment and the elite ruling class, in order to eradicate the very political essence of the middle class. This exclusion campaign started with banning of political activities at educational institutions, and went as far as disallowing political and philosophical conversations in public spaces. DrTaimoor Rehman describes this intellectual cleansing as signs placed in cafes and restaurants, “Yahan Siyasi Guftagu karna mana hai” (Political discussions aren’t allowed here).

In the past, the frequent intellectual standoffs between the right and left ideology kept the beauty of democracy and enlightenment.

Nonetheless, the rise of government- backed fundamentalism in the 1980s proved to be the final blow to the middle class’s involvement in state affairs. Despite the grave situation, in the last decade notable middle class individuals like Anwar Maqsood, Pervez Hoodboy, Dr Taimoor Rehman and the late Asma Jahangir tried to kindle and breathe soul into the dormant middle class, but to no avail.

It won’t be wrong to conclude that the upper-middle class and middle-middle class is to be charged with the crime of leaving the state orphaned into the hands of fundamentalists and illiterates. The part of Pakistani society which used to be hand in glove with politics, religion and social philosophy went far away restricting themselves only to nine-to-five office jobs and dining with their families at fine restaurants in the evening.

This grim situation reminds one of Dante, the great Italian poet & philosopher, when he said: “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those, who remain neutral in the times of great moral conflict”

The upper-middle class and middle-middle class is to be charged with the crime of leaving the state orphaned into the hands of fundamentalists and illiterates. The part of Pakistani society which used to be hand in glove with politics, religion and social philosophy went far away restricting themselves only to nine-to-five office jobs and dining with their families at fine restaurants in the evening

The writer is a freelance columnist

Gender problems PROBLeMS surrounding gender have always been present in our society. from Pakistan ranking the third last country on the Human Rights index, to the failure of exercising gender based laws. However as most of us think gender inequality is not just limited to men and women, but transgenders too; a large portion of our population which is largely stigmatised, and mostly ignored.

This was further highlighted when a transgender woman Julie, who happens to be an activist, was imprisoned based on a false allegation, and unlawfully kept in men’s jail despite her identifying as a woman. Her suspicious arrest took the social media by storm, since Julie had earned her self quite a rapport with social media activists for her ardour to blatantly state the truths about our society. Which were otherwise shunned into silence; issues like sectarian unrest, sexual exploitation of transgenders, and the prevalent class culture. The rage of her supporters resulted in her release after 7 days. However in the past even when she was not a social media sensation Julie had faught for injustices against her gender, which are far too many to state.

The question is how long will we, as a nation, continue to opress the voices of truth and justice into silence, rather than addressing the issue at hand. It is high time that the order of law should be implemented and hold accountable even the keepers of law (police), if they’re caught missusing.

There needs to be further revision in law which cater to minorities whether gender based, race based or religion based.

SakiNa rizvi karachi

Karachi rains fOR the fifth time in around a month, Karachi lay in chaos in the aftermath of another spell of monsoon rains on friday. flooded roads, power breakdowns, toppled trees, roads choked with traffic, damaged structures and authorities’ negligence and hollow promises – nothing was out of the ordinary for the city’s residents as heavy downpours lashed the metropolis. for the earlier part of the day, the city sizzled as temperature soared past 39 degrees Celsius and sea breezes remained suspended. With humidity levels rising from 79 per cent to 89 per cent later in the day, the port city’s residents languished, anticipating that the predicted rainfall would add to their misery.

Their fears began unfolding at around 2pm, when the first smattering of raindrops hit the city. from a drizzle, it soon transformed into a torrential shower, accompanied by thunder and lightning, that continued to batter the city for as long as two hours, while some areas continued to experience intermittent showers after the initial heavy downpour.

Multiple roads, including Sakhi Hassan Chowrangi , Surjani Town , Waterpump , People’s Chowrangi,which disrupted traffic on thoroughfares in the apparent absence of Pre-emptive measures. other localities worst affected on friday included Orangi Town, North Nazimabad, Garden, Saddar, Burnes Road, , New Karachi, , Gulshan-eIqbal and others. Queues of vehicles stretching up to 10 kilometres were witnessed in many areas, leaving commuters frustrated while several vehicles ran out of fuel, adding to the predicament.

Meanwhile, the city’s electricity infrastructure crumbled under heavy showers once again as reports of over 600 feeders tripping, transformers malfunctioning and cables breaking surfaced, telling the tale of Kelectric’s (Ke) failure.

Areas particularly affected by prolonged electricity suspension included Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Liaquatabad, Saddar, PIB Colony, Landhi, Malir,Surjani, New Karachi Korangi and Shah faisal Colony, among others. Residents continued to struggle in the midst of heavy downpour, subsequent flooding and darkness, as electricity supply to most neighbourhoods remained suspended late into the night.

Ke, however, claimed that it was necessary to shut down power due to water-logging in certain areas, adding that this created a risk of electrocution. arSlaN khaN karachi

Concerning situation He challenge for India and Pakistan is how to make certain that they manage their relation in a way that annihilate all points of contention, the convergence between the two countries remain dominant and the pessimistic aspects are manageable. The gap between the two is also expanding. There is growing distrust on the terms between the two countries and the challenge for Pakistan is how it manages that distrust and begins to shrink that distrust.

As far as the US is concerned, US is aspiring super power but its aspirational ambitions are built on great deal of insecurity, the way it perceives Pakistan’s relations with the China it is being hemmed in by close understanding cordiality between Pakistan and China so lets not discount the insecurity on the US side.

ShaFi ahmEd khowaja jaTi Sujawal

Monday, 30 August, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

AmeRicA And its Allies helped the tAlibAn on the RoAd to victoRy

Middle easT MoniTor

m

Yvonne ridleY

OST Western media outlets are carrying headlines and hype about the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan after the fighting force swept through the country at a blistering pace which has left military strategists gasping. Within 24 hours of making his “i am staying” speech, president Ashraf Ghani fled from Kabul when the Taliban entered the city. Apparently, he has gone to Tajikstan while an interim government headed

by Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar takes over.

Ghani didn’t want to stay and fight. Happily, the Afghan National Army agreed, probably because he and his corrupt government weren’t worth defending; the troops gave little or no resistance when Baradar arrived. in less than a week, the Taliban has seized ten provincial capitals, including the movement’s spiritual home of Kandahar. On Saturday morning, its forces surrounded the capital.

Since Western governments and media have spent three decades demonising the Taliban, the headlines over recent days were entirely predictable. “Return to the Dark Ages”, screamed one alongside the face of an Afghan girl looking incredibly frightened and bewildered. i felt frightened for her, even though most of the emerging descriptions and scare stories lack real substance. Not only are Western media outlets selling the public short they’re managing to scare the hell out of everyone else with stories of rape, forced marriage, and schools being closed, as well as the usual tropes such as kite flying being banned.

What is absent in all of the hysteria is any meaningful analysis, insight, or even simple facts about how the Taliban forces have managed to sweep through Afghanistan taking strategic cities such as Herat, Kandahar, and pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province, in just a few days.

Yes, there is carnage on the ground; and, yes, there have been atrocities, but they are happening on all sides.

That is what war looks like. The bodies of the children pulled out of the rubble in Kabul when the US and Britain fired cruise missiles against the Afghans in the city at the start of this conflict in 2001 look no different to the bodies of innocents caught up in last week’s crossfire. The only difference is that no one bothered to count the dead and wounded back then if they weren’t American, British or other NATO soldiers.

How has the Taliban managed to seize control of Afghanistan? For a start, it’s worth reminding ourselves that, despite what we read in the media, the movement is not a small band of insurrectionists who have recently reemerged like some pop-up army after the US announced the surprise pull out of its troops. The Taliban is made up of Afghans with popular support in many parts of the country; it never really went away. These are people fighting in and for their own country, not interlopers.

Although some of the original Taliban are still in its ranks, the movement is quite different from that which fled from Kabul in 2001. The key strategists and decisionmakers have not ditched or compromised their islamic be-

NOT ONLY ARE WESTERN MEDIA OUTLETS SELLING THE PUBLIC SHORT THEY’RE MANAGING TO SCARE THE HELL OUT OF EVERYONE ELSE WITH STORIES OF RAPE, FORCED MARRIAGE, AND SCHOOLS BEING CLOSED, AS WELL AS THE USUAL TROPES SUCH AS KITE FLYING BEING BANNED I SAID MANY YEARS AGO THAT AMERICA AND ITS ALLIES WERE NOT THE SOLUTIONS FOR AFGHANISTAN, BUT THE PROBLEM. POST-CAPTIVITY I’VE BEEN BACK TO AFGHANISTAN MANY TIMES AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT MOVING AROUND THE COUNTRY IN THE ALL-ENVELOPING BLUE BURQA ENABLED ME TO OBSERVE AMERICA’S ARROGANT IMPERIALISM AT CLOSE QUARTERS. IT WAS REPUGNANT liefs. They have, though, matured and developed and embraced a more pragmatic outlook on global politics.

Just as the then would-be president Hamid Karzai spent much of 2001 sneaking in and out of Afghanistan making strategic alliances with regional power holders and tribal leaders, ever since 9/11 the Taliban leaders have done exactly the same. However, instead of relying solely on support from within the country, the Taliban negotiating team has also realised that alliances with neighbours and regional powers are equally important, especially when it comes to trade and creating jobs and wealth.

According to my sources — and they’ve not let me down so far — top-level meetings have already taken place with China, Russia, Turkey, pakistan, iran, and other neighbouring states. i’m told that the meetings have all been productive and positive.

There could be very practical reasons for this.

Tehran, for example, does not need any more problems to deal with, especially along its rugged 950km border with Afghanistan. Given the tough geographical conditions in the region, it’s nigh on impossible to secure. iran already has plenty to contend with further afield, as israel keeps threatening to attack and is goading the US into action against the government in Tehran. The israelis are already embroiled in a so-called shadow war with iran in the Gulf.

Similarly, pakistan has a massive job policing its 2,640km border with Afghanistan while keeping an eye on its potentially hostile nuclear-armed neighbour india in occupied Kashmir. China has much bigger problems to contend with as an emerging superpower, so it too will not want to be distracted by events in the Wakhan Corridor, a sliver of land 350km long but less than 15km wide, ending in Afghanistan’s shortest border of just 75km.

Russia also has its own problems and doesn’t want to be sucked into sorting out Afghanistan’s. Moscow has already been down that route as we all know; the old USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979 until 1989, leading to a 10-year war and occupation, and the emergence of Al-Qaeda. Soviet involvement was as disastrous as the American and British military misadventure in the “graveyard of empires”.

The fact that the Sunni Taliban have been talking with Shia iran is a sign that toxic sectarian issues could

finally be resolved. Not everyone will be happy at this, not least israel’s new best friends and strategic partners in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia. The two have a mutual loathing for Shia-dominated iran, as does the kingdom’s influential Wahhabi religious establishment.

Turkey could prove to be a good ally since it is already making its weight felt in the Muslim world with its troops in Syria, Libya, and Qatar, where the Taliban’s negotiating team is based. The Qataris are already promoting themselves as partners for peace in other arenas; again, its rivals in Riyadh are not happy.

Taking all of this into consideration, it is highly unlikely that Afghanistan will become a playground for jihadists or a magnet for terrorists. Far from being isolated, Afghanistan could once again become a key trading route with significant business partners. The key thing, as i wrote a couple of weeks ago, is that “The time has come for the West to take a giant step back and stop interfering in Afghanistan other than to provide nostrings humanitarian aid and support to make up for 20 years of devastation.” i stand by this claim. i remember asking my Taliban interrogators during my well-documented captivity in Afghanistan in 2001 about the movement’s relationship with Al Qaeda. “They came in as our guests and now act as our masters,” they replied bluntly. if that was representative of the general feeling back then, i think that the Taliban leadership may be more selective over who it hosts in the future.

Bearing in mind that the Taliban has never exported terrorism or carried out military strikes beyond its own country, i think it’s highly unlikely it will tolerate those with plans to export terrorism to the West. it’s worth repeating that there were no Taliban fighters on board any of the hijacked aircraft on 9/11, something which many Americans forget; the terrorists were nearly all Saudis.

This will come as a surprise to some journalists who are incapable of viewing the Taliban as anything other than “terrorists”. They see the beards, turbans, and distinct clothing and lazy journalism results; islamophobia and racism follow. i suspect that the Taliban’s priorities will include expunging any traces of Daesh from its territory. if any politicians and journalists cannot — or will not — distinguish between the two groups, they need to consider if they are in the right job. As they give this some thought, let them also consider the fact that Western ef-

forts to prop up one of the most corrupt governments in the world helped the Taliban considerably.

The US has thrown three trillion dollars at its failed military campaign in Afghanistan; billions more have been given as aid, much of which has been siphoned off by unsavoury elements within Ashraf Ghani’s regime.

Now a lot of the American weapons and equipment supplied to the Afghan National Army and other forces are in the hands of the Taliban. Britain and the EU have also spent huge amounts of money in Afghanistan.

Astonishingly, Europe has threatened to isolate Afghanistan on the international stage if the Taliban takes power again. Why? it was a disaster the last time round and by isolating the Taliban, the EU created even more fertile conditions for Al-Qaeda and other groups to flourish. it has been said that the definition of madness is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. European racism is clouding its judgment. perhaps the most shocking reaction of all has come from US president Joe Biden, who dropped a bombshell before heading off to his Camp David retreat for the weekend. The Afghan people, he told journalists, have to “fight for themselves” and “fight for their nation.”

Let this be a lesson to all who look to America to police the world. The US message is clear: We bombed, invaded, and occupied your country and now we have quit, leaving someone else to sort out the mess that we made.

What a propaganda tool for the Taliban. is it any wonder that the movement has encountered little resistance on the road to Kabul? i said many years ago that America and its allies were not the solutions for Afghanistan, but the problem. post-captivity i’ve been back to Afghanistan many times and i can tell you that moving around the country in the all-enveloping blue burqa enabled me to observe America’s arrogant imperialism at close quarters. it was repugnant.

As we look at what is happening now, let’s remember this: it’s not the rapid withdrawal of the US forces that enabled the Taliban’s speedy power grab, it was their presence in Afghanistan in the first place.

British journalist and author Yvonne Ridley provides political analysis on affairs related to the Middle East, Asia and the Global War on Terror.

America’s military leaders need to resign

Townhall

R

Kurt Schlichter

ip those stars off your pathetic nostalgia costumes and resign. Quit. Tell that crusty pinocchio in the White House and the faculty lounge Geppettos tugging his strings that you will have no more to do with his human centipede of failure in Kabul. it’s not hard – your stars are right there, generals, right on the shoulders of those new uniforms you decided to adopt with the express purpose of evoking World War ii and the memory of victory over a modern, peer-competitor military. Maybe, you thought, wearing winner’s gear would ease the pain of getting creamed by a bunch of Seventh Century throwbacks.

Yeah, we know your boss is a senile old fool with delusions of competence. His failure will be addressed at the ballot box. But your failure, generals and admirals,

is something only you can address, at least until president DeSantis comes and separates the wheat from the chaff in the pentagon.

Yeah, we know, you have to follow the orders of the civilian authorities – though not if it’s Trump, since he was not part of the in-crowd you aspired to join as adjunct military members. Your passive-aggressive mutiny against the guy the American people elected set back civil-military relations 250 years. You took the one institution most Americans still trusted and turned it into a roiling cauldron of hot garbage. And don’t try to hide behind “You gotta support the troops.” We do. But you suck, and we know you suck, and you know you suck. if you didn’t suck, you’d have quit. When president Durwood told you to ditch Bagram Air Base, you joint chiefs should have got together, realized this was going to get a bunch of the guys that America entrusted to you killed, and decided to resign. You can’t disobey, but you can take a stand.

Well, you did take a kind of stand. You just stood there. As one sergeant major told me today, the newest second lieutenant would identify this op as a disaster in the making. Now, far be it from me to contradict an E9, but i expect he would agree that even the greenest Girl Scout recruit would ask, “What the unholy hell are you idiots thinking, pulling the military out and giving up our secure airbase before you’ve completed your noncombatant evacuation operation?”

You could have quit. You could have salvaged some shred of honor after your years of total failure, but making a stand would come at the expense of your careers.

Yet it would have worked. A bunch of generals saying “No more?” That would have forced the politicians to do

a rethink. But you just saluted, same as the guys who enabled Vietnam – something Army schools used to tell us (before they hired faculties full of pronoun people) we officers needed to do if the time came. You chose not to.

Maybe you dug the pomp and circumstance – it’s good to be the general. Or maybe you imagined that you – the guys who have not won a war in two decades – were the only ones competent and capable enough to polish this strategic turd into a tactical diamond.

But it’s hard to believe you’re that delusional. it’s hard to believe that even the same band of ibram X. Kendi fanboys who couldn’t decide whether our greatest strategic threat is the weather or Americans who voted for Donald Trump could imagine that only they stood between president Asterisk and total defeat.

You know what the Sergeant Major of the Army tweeted today, just before about a dozen of our troops were blown apart in exactly the way anyone not rocking in his chair, gulping mush, and staring at his stories on the tee-vee saw coming?

“Diversity is a number - do you have people that don’t look or think like you in the room? inclusion is listening and valuing those people. #WomensEqualityDay reminds us we’re smarter and more lethal when we come together as an inclusive, cohesive team. Our values demand it.”

This gooey pablum would be funny if a dozen families weren’t getting a knock on the door tonight. But they are, and this frivolous idiocy is not funny. You need to resign too, Sergeant Major. Just go away.

Maybe General Milley did get something right. A soldier of recognized bravery earlier in his career, and (according to one soldier who served under him) a good battalion commander as a light colonel, he has demon-

strated the peter principle in spades. He is the worst Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in history, a disaster in every way, but he has accomplished one thing besides adding to America’s “L” column. He has united the country. Remember his ridiculous screed about “white rage?” Well, today – because of his failure – he has managed to unite Americans of all colors and shades in their rage at a failed military establishment whose lack of seriousness and gross incompetence has not only humiliated our country but gotten our troops killed. He has created a rainbow of rage.

Salvage some dignity. Though, if i had a say, the whole lot of you would be court martialed for your negligence. You’d happily nuke from orbit a specialist who dropped his NVGs on a patrol, but you just lost another war and you’re probably headed to a board seat at Raytheon. The British Royal Navy used to shoot admirals for failure to encourage the others. i note that when this innovative personnel incentive program was in effect, Britannia ruled the waves.

Today, what does America rule? The Chinese are laughing at us. The Taiwanese have got to be rethinking their position. iran is cackling. Our allies are furious.

Way to go.

This happened on your watch. You didn’t give the order, but you chose to go along and get along. Now a dozen of the men we entrusted to you are getting along to Dover, and we can only pray more don’t follow.

You won’t do it, because if you were the kind of men who would do it you would not have to be told to do it.

But you should do it. it might save a little shred of your dignity. Rip those stars off your shoulders and throw them down on the Resolute desk. Resign.

monday, 30 august, 2021

buSinESS 09

iSlamabad

GovT adoPTs haRmonIsed sTandaRds FoR Food, non-Food ITems ISLAMABAD

a

Pakistan earns $2,123m from IT services’ export during FY21 ISLAMABAD APP

Pakistan earned $2123.035 million by providing different information technology (IT) services in various countries during the fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21), showing a growth of 47.44 per cent compared to $1439.970 million earned during the corresponding period of FY20, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Sunday. During the period under review, computer services grew by 50.32pc, among which the exports of software consultancy services witnessed increase of 35.50pc while the export and import of computer software related services also rose by 30.88pc. The exports of hardware consultancy services decreased by 71.84pc from, $1.957 million to $0.551 million whereas the exports of repair and maintenance services also declined by 56.19pc from $1.511 million to $0.662 million. Meanwhile, the export of information services during the period under review increased by 56.47pc by going up from $2.550 million to $3.990 million Among information services, exports of news agency services increased by 69.41pc, from $ 1.360 million to $2.304 million whereas the exports of other information services also increased by 41.68pc, from $1.190 million to $1.686 million. The export of telecommunication services also witnessed an increase of 37.63pc as these went up from $328.730 million to 452.430 million during the fiscal year under review, the data revealed. Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centre services increased by 22.10pc during the period as its exports increased from $125.964 million to $153.806 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services also increased by 47.28pc, from $202.766 million to $298.624 million during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.

Inflation likely to cross 9pc Inflation may inch over 9 per cent due to monetary expansion and a spike in international commodity prices whereas the current account deficit could remain over half a billion dollar in August, a new report by the Ministry of Finance has stated. As per the report which was compiled by The Express Tribune, the monthly economic outlook report for August also predicted around $5.5 billion imports, which have become a key reason behind widening of the current account deficit, again. The local media outlet recalled that year-on-year (YoY) inflation is expected to fluctuate around 7.6pc – 9.2pc in the month under review, according to the report prepared by the economic advisory wing of the finance ministry. Inflation had been recorded at 8.4pc in July 2021. The finance ministry has said that imports of goods and services will be around $6 billion in this month, implying around $5.5 billion imports of goods. “As a result, the current account would remain in deficit at moderate monthly levels of around $500 million this month,” said the finance ministry, adding that the CAD widened due to growing import volume of energy and non-energy commodities, along with a rising trend in global prices of oil, Covid-19 vaccines, food, and metals. MONITORING REPORT

GHULAM ABBAS

FTER a three year battle between the centre and provinces, the incumbent government has finally notified the harmonisation of standards for food and non-food items after the four provinces agreed on one standard to be implemented across country.

Although it is yet to be finalised which body would have the power of implementation and enforcement on the national standard, the issue related to having one standard has finally been settled.

According to an official, there was a long-standing demand of the food industry to eliminate multiple standards by different food authorities of federal and provincial governments whereas the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), an attached department of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), has taken the remarkable step to reform things which will significantly improve the ease of doing business (EoDB).

The matter was earlier decided at the forum of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), the provincial food authorities are still reluctant to give up or even share the power of enforcement of standards, as the issue involves revenue.

The centre, being represented by PSQCA, is also reportedly reluctant in sharing the power of enforcement and monitoring of standards.

According to officials at MoST, after a clear direction from the Prime Minister (PM) Office, PSQCA has notified an online application system to facilitate industrialists, businessmen and manufacturers for registering their products for certification mark license with effect from September 1, 2021. The certification license would be mandatory for 166 mandatory items listed at PSQCA. Earlier the provinces were not ready to accept the role of PSQCA as the sole body for registering, monitoring, and implementing consumer items. The PSQCA, which was worried about stripping its power of inspecting the quality of 166 selected items, had reportedly suggested The Council of Common Interests (CCI) to at least allow it to make standards of the consumer items. The provinces and their food authorities may be allowed to enforce and implement the standard in their jurisdiction.

According to sources Punjab was reluctant to accept this proposal.

As PSQCA had failed to ensure manufacturing, import and supply of quality items because of its incapability and corruption of officials, the provincial authorities had practically taken control of the

mandate, being exercised by PSQCA. Resultantly the manufacturers of consumer and food items including the national and multinational companies were much disturbed over the inspection and monitoring and licensing by both PSQCA and provincial authorities.

Since the process of inspection, certification, licensing involves fees, money and bribe, the central and provincial authorities were reluctant to give up the mandate and power to the centre.

The Ministry of Law, which was looking into the matter, had sent the matter to the CCI. In the absence of consensus for the past three years, no development was made regarding the formulation of national standards, registration and licensing of manufactures and trading houses in the country and conformity assessment i.e., enforcement of standards across the country.

Taking notice of the issue, CCI had decided to resolve constitutional and legal ambiguities, review Provincial Food Authorities Acts and suggest a mechanism for enforcement of applicable technical regulations.

Following the 18th Amendment in the constitution and the creation of food authorities and subsequent enforcement of different laws by provinces, the interprovincial trade and manufacture of food items across the country were badly affected.

Housing finance market regulatory body on the cards The government is working on setting up a regulatory body for the country’s housing finance market which is experiencing an accelerated growth and is currently regulated by the State bank of Pakistan (SBP).

In this regard, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin while unveiling the economic plan for sustainable growth earlier this week revealed that the regulatory authority by the name of ‘Pakistan Housing Bank’ will be established “in due course of time”.

According to a report by Dawn which quoted Economic Advisory Council (EAC) member Arif Habib, the function of housing finance will be devolved “out of the commercial banking arena” through the formation of housing finance institutions/companies.

“Housing finance companies

will be from the private sector. The idea is to create an enabling environment for the private sector so that it can pursue housing finance as an exclusive business,” he said, adding that the government is going to encourage banks to provide housing finance companies with funds so that the new entities can scale up their operations.

“They will also be allowed to raise funds through market instruments”.

It is pertinent to mention here that no housing finance company existed in Pakistan until recently whereas the SECP issued licences to three such companies which are expected to commence operations in the current year.

Outstanding consumer financing for house building amounted to Rs106.8 billion at the end of July, up 32.7 per cent from a year

ago. Similarly, outstanding loans for building construction were Rs97.9bn at the end of last month, up 42pc from July 2020, SBP data shows.

The government has set aside Rs36bn for its housing loan markup subsidy scheme to promote affordable housing over a 10-year period. It is offering through commercial banks 20-year mortgages at 3pc, 5pc, 7pc and 9pc annual rates depending on the property’s size and value. Its target is to achieve outstanding housing finance equalling at least 5pc of the total private-sector credit by the end of this year.

As of April 20, banks had received applications for financing of more than Rs52bn from the general public under this scheme with the approved amount of more than Rs15bn. MONITPORING REPORT

Saudi investment minister visits Oman to boost economic ties DUBAI AGENCIES

Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih was visiting Oman on Sunday to discuss opportunities in both Gulf countries, Saudi state news agency SPA said.

The visit follows economic talks earlier this year after which Saudi Arabia said it was considering developing an industrial zone in Oman, a neighbouring country with a much smaller economy.

Sunday’s visit aims “to consolidate and expand the economic relations and mutual investments between the two brotherly countries”, SPA said.

The Saudi delegation includes officials from government agencies and private sector representatives, it said.

Saudi Arabia is in the midst of an ambitious economic development plan to wean the economy off oil, while Oman last year introduced measures to boost its finances and recently asked the International Monetary Fund for assistance to rein in its debt.

Both countries were hit hard by the coronavirus crisis and low oil prices last year, and are keen to attract foreign investment as part of their reform efforts.

Oman last year was in talks with some Gulf countries for financial help, according to a bond prospectus in October.

FBR to hold first meeting on track, trace system today The first meeting for consultations to implement the Track & Trace System (TTS) to eliminate tax evasion in key sectors of the economy i.e. tobacco, cement, sugar and fertiliser, will be held at the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) headquarters tomorrow. In this regard, the FBR has invited representatives of five sugar mills for consultations on the TTS along with the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA).

However, the sugar industry has expressed its reservations over the move with the claim that TTS sticker stamps will easily come off from polypropylene bags which will benefit tax evaders. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Pakistan Polypropylene Woven Sack Manufactures Association (PPWSMA) sought support against the implementation of TTS and instead urged for printing the Quick Response (QR) code at the bags. In the letter, PPWSMA Chairman Iskendar Khan, who is also the chairman of PSMA, said, “We have requested the FBR to place a mandatory requirement for all the polypropylene factories to print QR codes on bags produced for sugar, fertiliser, cement, wheat flour, wheat, pulses, rice and animal feed etc.” The installed QR code machine will be connected with a computer system having software to generate sales invoice showing price and quantum of sales tax which is documented in the QR code be readable via mobile phone application enabling the FBR to trace back each and every polypropylene bag produced for industrial packaging. MONITORING REPORT

CaEXPO to be held online, offline from Sept 10 BEIJING APP

The 18th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) will take place both online and offline in Nanning, capital of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, from September 10-13.

Pakistan, like previous year, will be the special partner country at the CAEXPO, which is a high-level dialogue platform of concerted efforts, successfully convened for 17 consecutive years.

In response to the Covid-19, this year’s CAEXPO will go cloud and hold both physical and online exhibitions. To be specific, the organizers will hold physical exhibition

mainly participated by domestic participants and exhibitors and, in parallel, ‘Cloud CAEXPO’ mainly joined by overseas participants and exhibitors.

Wang Lei, Secretary-General of the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat, said that by exploring the potential of cross-border ecommerce cooperation, online CAEXPO will promote the formation of new growth points for China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation.

The mixed model of “physical exhibition + online CAEXPO” adopted for the first time in the 17th China-ASEAN Expo provided Chinese and foreign enterprises with free services such as online exhibition, online negotiation and conference, live broad-

cast and cross-border e-commerce.

The online CAEXPO is divided into China Pavilion, ASEAN Pavilion, Pavilion for Special Partner Country and “Belt and Road” International Pavilion, and provides link services to well-known e-commerce platforms at home and abroad.

In the meantime, trade and investment promotion activities such as online crossborder procurement matchmaking, sales by online celebrities on live streaming, and ASEAN products promotion conferences will be held online.

The online CAEXPO, which debuted last year, created a multi-linkage exhibition platform, showcasing more than 4,800 items.

A total of 1,956 enterprises in the 17th

China-ASEAN Expo participated in online CAEXPO, 135 online conferences were held, 3,000 pairs of accurate matching were made, the entire network exposure reached 1 billion, and the site visits were 20.17 million, providing a new experience of the mixed model for participating businesses. Online CAEXPO has achieved substantial results.

According to statistics, the past 17th CAEXPO’s have attracted 926,000 Chinese and ASEAN participants, and made a series of important achievements in goods trade, investment cooperation and international production capacity cooperation, which have effectively promoted the upgrading and development of China-ASEAN economic and

trade cooperation.

This year’s CAEXPO will continue to promote cooperation between the two sides. The exhibition’s contents will be optimised, with economic and trade activities covering production capacity, digital economy, science and technology and environmental protection.

The delegations from 31 provinces, regions and cities in China have confirmed participation. ASEAN countries will use an exhibition area of 12,600 square metres, with the presence of many leading corporations.

The normalised operation of on-line CAEXPO throughout the year will greatly enhance the effectiveness of economic and trade cooperation.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

ISLAMABAD

Israel bombs Hamas sItes In Gaza over FIre balloons: mIlItary JERUSALEM/GAZA

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REUTERS

SRAELI aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza early on Sunday in response to incendiary balloons purportedly launched from the Palestinian enclave, the military said, as a recent rise in cross-border violence tests a fragile truce that ended fierce fighting in May. Sanctioned by Hamas, the armed group that rules Gaza, Palestinian groups said on Saturday they were resuming protests at the Israel-Gaza border, aimed at pressing Israel to ease restrictions on the enclave.

The Israeli military claimed hundreds of Palestinians gathered along the frontier during the night, hurling explosives and burning tyres.

The military said its troops responded with “riot dispersal means” and Gaza medics said at least six Palestinians were hurt, one seriously. A few hours later, Israeli pre-dawn airstrikes targeted a Hamas weapons manufacturing complex and a tunnel it said was used by fighters after incendiary balloons

were sent across the border.

There were no reports of casualties in the bombings.

An Egyptian-mediated truce ended the May conflict in which Israel carried out airstrikes across the coastal enclave. At least 250 Palestinians, many of them children, and 13 people in Israel were killed in 11 days of fighting.

But violence has recently increased despite an Israeli announcement this month of a resumption of Qatari aid to Gaza, a decision that had been seen as bolstering the truce.

Palestinian groups say Israel has yet to make good on its word and over the past two weeks, fighters have allegedly fired a rocket and sent balloons carrying incendiary material into Israel, setting off brush fires and drawing indiscriminate Israeli strikes on Hamas facilities.

Israel keeps Gaza under a blockade, tightly restricting movement in and out of the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians. Egypt also maintains Gaza restrictions.

Four charged with rape, murder of nine-year-old Dalit girl in India NEW DELHI AFP

A priest and three other men have been charged with the gang rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl, Indian police said, in a case that sparked days of protests in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly assaulted by the priest, 53, and three workers on August 1 after she had gone to a crematorium to fetch water. The four men, who have been in custody since they were detained in early August, face the death penalty. The girl's mother earlier told police the men called her to the crematorium and claimed her daughter was electrocuted. They told her that if she reported the incident to police, doctors conducting an autopsy would remove her child's organs and sell them.

Her daughter's body was then cremated, before some locals intervened and pulled some charred remains from the pyre. The 400-page charge sheet from Delhi Police cited “scientific, technical and other evidence” and witness testimony, the government said in a statement late on Saturday. It added that its push for charges to be laid within 30 days of the alleged incident reflected its “zero tolerance” of crimes against women and girls in the nation of 1.3 billion people. An average of nearly 90 rapes of girls and women were reported in the country every day in 2019, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau. But large numbers of sexual assaults are believed to go unreported. The case also highlighted the treatment of the 200 million-strong Dalit community, the lowest group under the country's caste system. The community has long faced discrimination and abuse in India. Activists say attacks against Dalits have increased since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 30 killed in Houthi strikes on Yemen base, spokesman says ADEN REUTERS

At least 30 soldiers were killed and 60 wounded on Sunday in Houthi strikes on a military base belonging to forces of the Saudi-led coalition in southwest Yemen, a spokesman for the southern forces and medical sources said.

The Houthis have carried out several attacks using armed drones and ballistic missiles on the al-Anad military base, Yemeni southern forces spokesman Mohamed al-Naqeeb said.

Naqeeb said that between 30 to 40 soldiers were killed and at least 60 wounded, adding the death toll may still rise as rescuers were still clearing the scene.

The southern forces are part of the Saudi-led coalition. Two medical sources said several bodies had arrived at Lahj province's main hospital along with another 16 wounded people. It was unclear if civilians were among the casualties.

Residents said that several loud blasts were heard in the al-Anad area, which is located at some 70 km (43 miles) north of the southern port city of Aden.

Several other residents from the disputed central city of Taiz said they heard ballistic missiles fired from launchers positioned in the Houthi-held eastern suburbs of the city.

The war started in 2014 when the Houthis invaded Sanaa and ousted the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in March 2015 to restore Hadi to power but the ensuing conflict, now stalemated, has killed tens of thousands and caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The attacks came at a time when peace talks between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, and backed by the United Nations and the United States, have stalled after both sides failed to reach a compromise deal.

The talks are focused on steps to lift a blockade on Houthi-held ports and Sanaa airport in return for a promise from the Iran-aligned group for truce talks.

France and Britain call on UN to help create a Kabul ‘safe zone’ PARIS AFP

France and Britain will on Monday urge the United Nations to work for the creation of a “safe zone” in the Afghanistan capital Kabul to protect humanitarian operations, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

“This is very important. This would provide a framework for the United Nations to act in an emergency,” Macron said in comments published in the weekly Journal du Dimanche.

Above all such a safe zone would allow the international community “to maintain pressure on the Taliban,” who are now in power in Afghanistan, the French leader added.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council — France, Britain, the US, Russia and China — will meet on Monday to discuss the Afghanistan situation. Paris and London will take the opportunity to present a draft resolution which “aims to define, under UN control, a ‘safe zone’ in Kabul, that will allow humanitarian operations to continue,” Macron said.

His comments come as international efforts to airlift foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghanis out of the

country comes to an end.

ENDING OF EVACUATIONS: France ended its evacuation efforts on Friday and the United Kingdom followed suit on Saturday US troops have been scrambling in dangerous and chaotic conditions to complete a massive evacuation op-

eration from the Kabul airport by an August 31 deadline.

Macron announced on Saturday that discussions had been “started with the Taliban” to “protect and repatriate” Afghan nationals at risk beyond August 31.

Speaking to reports in Iraq, where he was attending a meeting of key regional leaders, Macron added that with help from Qatar, which maintains good relations with the Taliban, there was a possibility of further airlift operations.

He added that France had evacuated 2,834 people from Afghanistan since August 17.

In the article published by the French Sunday newspaper, Macron said he envisaged targeted evacuations in future “which would not be carried out at the military airport in Kabul” but perhaps via civil airports in the Afghan capital or from neighbouring countries.

Macron also took aim at the kind of talk going on some quarters in France which “stir fears” about the arrival of Afghan refugees in France.

“My role is not to stir up fears among our compatriots, it is to provide solutions to resolve them,” he added, assuring that he aims to manage migratory pressures with “humanity, firmness, with an ability to protect our borders as necessary”.

German election campaign heats up as Merkel's conservatives slide BERLIN REUTERS

The campaign over who will replace German Chancellor Angela Merkel heated up on Sunday after an opinion poll showed the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) opening up a bigger lead over Merkel's conservatives.

Support for the SPD rose two points from last week to 24 percent, their highest result in four years according to the INSA poll conducted for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

The conservatives slipped one point to 21 percent, their lowest ever polled by INSA. Germany goes to the polls on September 26 when Merkel steps down as chancellor after 16 years in

office and four straight national election victories. Merkel's imminent departure has weakened support for her conservative alliance.

It was the second survey in the last week that has put the SPD ahead. Support for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has been falling steadily in recent weeks.

The bloc's candidate for chancellor, CDU chairman Armin Laschet, has been under fire since he was caught on camera laughing during a visit last month to a town hit by floods.

In a hypothetical direct vote for chancellor, the INSA poll showed that the SPD's candidate, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, would take 31

percent of the vote, compared with 10 percent for Laschet and 14 percent for the Greens candidate, Annalena Baerbock.

The three candidates were due to hold a televised debate on Sunday evening.

Despite the SPD's lead in the polls, they would still need to team up with two other parties to govern, prompting a discussion about which possible coalition partners would be acceptable.

Scholz declined to rule out teaming up with the far-left Linke in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, although he said any government must commit itself to NATO membership.

The Linke, currently polling on

about 6 percent, calls for the abolition of NATO in its election manifesto.

Bavarian premier Markus Soeder, who has rejected calls to replace Laschet as the conservative candidate, warned that Germany would shift to the left under a SPDled government. He said he hoped the debate will help Laschet turn the tide.

"He (Laschet) can become chanceller and would do a good job of leading Germany," he told ARD television.

Laschet cast doubt on the commitment of both the SPD and Greens to support the military, saying at an event on Saturday that they had blocked measures in the past to protect soldiers.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

SPORTS 11

ISLAMABAD

REAl MAdRid EdgE out REAl BEtiS, SEvillA MAintAin unBEAtEn StARt to SEASon SEVILLE

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AFP

ANI Carvajal’s second-half goal gave Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Real Betis on Saturday as Carlo Ancelotti’s men moved top of the early La Liga table.

Madrid now have seven points from their opening three games after a bright start to the season, while the reported potential signing of KylianMbappe could give them another boost before the end of the transfer window on Tuesday.

“It’s a matter for the club, they’re working on this,” Ancelotti said of Paris SaintGermain star Mbappe, for whom Madrid have already had a 160-million-euro bid rejected.

Italian Ancelotti, who returned to the club after the resignation of Zinedine Zidane, has seen some of his tougher decisions pay off so far, with Gareth Bale and Isco impressing after being brought back into the fold. Los Blancos will not play their first home match of the season until September 11 due to the ongoing renovation of the Santiago Bernabeu.

But they still lead the way in La Liga ahead of Sevilla and Valencia on goals scored. “There are many things that we have to improve, but the balance is positive,” said Ancelotti. “We have had an odd pre-season, many players arrived late. I am quite satisfied but yes, we have to improve.”

Betis remain winless after opening the season with two draws following a feisty encounter at the Benito Villamarin which saw

the hosts have five players and veteran coach Manuel Pellegrini booked.

Both teams looked dangerous early on, with Betis goalkeeper Rui Silva making a good save from Madrid defender Eder Militao in the seventh minute.

Shortly afterwards, away ‘keeper Thibaut Courtois had to get down smartly to keep out Nabil Fekir’s well-struck effort from long range.

Karim Benzema thought he had put the capital giants ahead in the 53rd minute but saw his effort ruled out for offside.

But the visitors did break the deadlock just after the hour mark through the unlikely source of Carvajal.

Vinicius Junior did well to keep the ball in play before right-back Carvajal volleyed home Benzema’s cross.

Madrid centre-back David Alaba almost gifted Betis an immediate equaliser as he attempted to cut out a cross, but sent the ball spinning just past his own post.

Eden Hazard, dropped to the bench, came on as a late substitute as the away side closed out an ultimately comfortable win.

EN-NESYRI KEEPS SEVILLA UNBEATEN: Earlier, Youssef En-Nesyri’s header secured Sevilla a 1-1 draw at Elche which kept JulenLopetegui’smen unbeaten after three games.

The Moroccan forward’s second goal of the campaign shortly before half-time moved Sevilla alongside Valencia, Real Mal-

Indian team hurt but not demoralised by loss, says captain Kohli LONDON REUTERS

India captain Virat Kohli said his players are hurting after losing the third Test against England at Headingley by a big margin but are not demoralised.

Joe Root’s men thrashed India by an innings and 76 runs on the fourth day of the Test on Saturday to level the five-match series, with the fourth starting at The Oval on Thursday.

Kohli, 32, said the short turnaround time will not be an obstacle to put the defeat behind them.

“We like to be in this situation where people start coming at us with doubts and really start questioning the ability of our team,” Kohli told reporters late on Saturday.

“That is the situation we love best. I can guarantee you one thing — that we will not be demoralised by this loss.

“The guys in the changing room are hurt. And when they are hurt they badly want to correct the things that

didn’t go well in this game. That is how we are going to play the next two Test matches.”

Kohli refused to criticise individuals for the defeat and said the entire batting unit failed in the first innings, when India were shot out for 78, while the bowling group was also not consistent enough.

The team will be open to rotating players to give them a rest during the long series but will not look to draft in an extra batsman in the remaining fixtures as it would upset their preferred balance, Kohli added.

The visiting team, ranked second in the world in Tests, had a strong chance to win the opening Test in Nottingham before rain forced a draw while they beat England comprehensively at Lord’s to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

“This game has been kind of an aberration in how we have gone this series,” he said. “You can’t become a bad team overnight.

“It all depends on your mindset, how you arrive in the next game. And I can assure you that we’ll arrive with a lot more determination and a lot more intensity than we had in this game.”

Ten-man Chelsea hold on for point at Liverpool LIVERPOOL REUTERS

Ten-man Chelsea delivered a fine defensive display as they held on for a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday after defender Reece James was sent off just before halftime of the Premier League clash.

Having gone in at the break at 1-1 and down a man, European champions Chelsea were pleased at picking up a point against title chasing rivals as they maintained their unbeaten start.

Second placed Chelsea are level with Liverpool on seven points from three games, with both teams having identical goal difference.

The dismissal of James, after a handball on the goalline, turned what had been a high-tempo and entertaining game into a more tactical affair following Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel's double substitutions at the interval.

The first clash of the season between two title contenders brought expectation and noise to Anfield, with the Kop back in full voice and with JuergenKlopp's side starting off on the front foot, Chelsea struggled to contain them.

Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson should have scored in the 10th minute when he was picked out by a wonderful Trent Alexander-Arnold cross but made a mess of his attempted side-foot volley which drifted harmlessly wide.

It was against the run of play, when Chelsea took the lead in the 22nd minute, Kai Havertz meeting a James corner at the near post and his glancing header looping into the far corner past the helpless Alisson Becker.

Chelsea, Champions League victors over Manchester City in May, were buzzing and Mason Mount should have doubled their lead when he was put in by RomeluLukaku.

But then came the incident which transformed the game.

Joel Matip's header came out off the bar and Sadio Mane's attempt bounced in front of James who stopped it from crossing the line.

But referee Anthony Taylor was called over to the pitchside monitor where he saw images showing the

ball had struck James' arm after it bounced up off his thigh. Taylor not only awarded the penalty but sent off James -- a harsh outcome for the right-back and one which was strongly protested by his team mates.

But despite the delay, Liverpool's Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah kept calm and beat Edouard Mendy with a textbook penalty kick to level the score.

Chelsea were anything but calm with Mendy clashing with Henderson in the aftermath of the penalty and the keeper and defender Antonio Rudiger both getting booked for their role in the resulting fracas.

German manager Tuchel not only calmed his team down at the interval but made two changes with Havertz and the injured N'GoloKante making way for defender Thiago Silva and midfielder Mateo Kovacic.

That meant a switch to a five-man defence and while Lukaku was more isolated in attack, the Londonders coped well with the inevitable pressure from Liverpool.

There were long range efforts from Virgil van Dijk and Henderson but the home side gradually ran out of ideas and energy against the resilient Chelsea defence.

Chelsea even threatened to sneak a winner when Kovacic burst in from the left, six minutes from the end, but was denied by Alisson.

"We got the double punishment, red card and a penalty - and two yellow cards in the same action. We were angry. But you have to calm down and find a way to fight together as a team," said Chelsea skipper Cesar Azpilicueta.

lorca and Madrid on seven points.

Defender Enzo Roco had given Elche an 11th-minute lead but they had to settle for a second point of the campaign.

Sevilla are hoping to launch another title challenge this term after falling away late last season to finish fourth.

But Barcelona and Real Madrid have both endured difficult summers, although champions Atletico Madrid kicked off their title defence with back-to-back wins.

Elsewhere, 19-year-old Ander Barrenetxea gave Real Sociedad a 1-0 victory over Levante, while Athletic Bilbao won by the same scoreline at Celta Vigo.

Elina Svitolina handles Alize Cornet to win Chicago title CHICAGO REUTERS

Top-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine dispatched ninth-seeded Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 6-4 to win the inaugural Chicago Women's Open on Saturday.

Svitolina converted all six break points while notching her first victory of the year and 16th of her career.

The match took two hours and two minutes. Svitolina led 3-0 in the second set before Cornet made a run and pulled within 5-4. But Cornet was unable to hold her service and Svitolina closed out the match with a backhand winner down the baseline.

TENNIS IN THE LAND: Second-seeded AnettKontaveit of Estonia delivered 25 winners while recording a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Irina-CameliaBegu of Romania to claim the title in Cleveland. Kontaveit committed 15 unforced errors while notching her second career title. She prevailed in a first-set tiebreaker and then won three straight games early in the second set to take control. Begu hit 27 winners but committed 25 unforced errors. Begu had five aces to Kontaveit's two in a match that took one hour and 55 minutes.

England captain Root backs team to build on Headingley win LONDON REUTERS

England captain Joe Root has said his team have the quality to consistently deliver performances similar to their crushing win over India in the third Test at Headingley on Saturday. England, after being comprehensively outplayed in the second Test at Lord’s, thrashed the visitors by an innings and 76 runs to level the five-Test series at 1-1.

“I’ve always known what we’re capable of doing.

Everyone in this group has shown that they’re good enough to perform and to deliver performances like that collectively,” Root told reporters late on Saturday. “One thing we need to keep getting better at is being more consistent and doing that time and time again. And (Headingley) is a great template for us to work from. “As a batting group, we made that big first innings score. As a bowling group, we were relentless. That’s the sort of thing that over time, we need to just keep doing more and more of.” Root emphasised the need for consistent big partnerships with the bat after leading the way with his 121, while Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan all scored half-centuries. “Now we’ve done it once this series, there’s no reason why we can’t take this forward,” Root added.

“We’ve shown that we can stand up to these guys in our own way and do it in our own manner as a side and really put them back under pressure.

We’ve got a great opportunity now with two games to go to do just that.” The victory also made Root the most successful Test captain for England with the result giving him his 27th win, one more than Michael Vaughan. “I’m living my boyhood dream,” the 30-year-old said. “I couldn’t be more proud to have gone past Michael but you don’t do that on your own as captain — it’s down to the group of players and the coaching staff as well.” The fourth Test starts at The Oval on Thursday.

Monday, 30 August, 2021

PRAyeR timiNgs

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FAJR SUNRISE

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ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

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PAkisTAn in rEd lisT oVEr low TEsTing And sEqUEnCing rATEs: Uk goVT LONDON

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iNP

HE British Government has said that it decided to keep Pakistan on the travel ban red list because the true number of Covid-19 cases is likely to be much higher than reported across Pakistan, a leaked letter written by Britain’s health minister revealed Sunday.

In the letter, Britain’s Health Minister Lord James Nicholas Bethell and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation from the Department of Health and Social Care explained in detail that Pakistan’s testing and sequencing rates are relatively low (1.8 per 1,000 over the last seven days) and lower testing and sequencing mean it is not possible to know the full genomic makeup of their current wave.

Therefore, they said that the true number of cases is likely to be much higher than reported.

“The national testing rate varies considerably across regions. For example, in Punjab — Pakistan’s most densely populated region — with the highest number of active cases, testing is below Pakistan’s average rate and is the second-lowest in the country,” Lord Bethell wrote to Yasmin Qureshi MP,

the Chair of All Parties Parliamentary Group on Pakistan.

The letter from Lord Bethell was passed to this correspondent by a source.

Lord Bethell said that the Joint Biosecurity Centre produces public health risk assessments to inform ministerial decisions on red, amber and green list countries and territories, and the associated border measures.

“Following the latest assessment, the JBC continues to rate inbound travel from Pakistan as high-risk. The limited sequencing data available from Pakistan would suggest that they are currently experiencing a Delta wave, however, given the limitations in the available data, we could not be reassured that the outbreaks are due to known variants such as Delta, or if a novel cluster(s) of new or high-risk variants are developing and/or driving the epidemiology in Pakistan,” he wrote.

Lord Bethell said that there was “no reason other than Pakistan’s drive against the pandemic that Pakistan is on the red list.”

He said: “The UK Government is engaging constructively with the Government of Pakistan to explore ways that we can improve data availability and confidence and consequently our

understanding of the current epidemiology within Pakistan. I met with Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK earlier this week to discuss these issues and we have established an expert working group to enable further technical engagement between senior public health officials and Pakistan’s senior health advisors.”

“This will enable us to better understand the strategies employed by Pakistan, their understanding of the pandemic and establish stable and long-term access to the outcomes of Pakistan’s in-country genomic surveillance and sequencing.”

“We appreciate the efforts the Government of Pakistan is making throughout the pandemic and will continue to work closely together. We are supporting their response to the pandemic, including through COVAX and through the development of Pakistan’s genomic sequencing capability. Through the New Variant Assessment Platform (NVAP) programme Pakistan will be able to draw on UK expertise and support to detect, analyse, and respond quickly to new, and potentially more dangerous, variants of COVID-19.”

Lord Bethell said the UK government understood the impact of the decision on British Pakistanis but he said:

“it is right that the Government takes all available measures to reduce the risk of new strains of Covid-19 being imported into the UK”.

The minister further explained the decision was based on the recommendations made by the Joint Biosecurity Centre which produces public health risk assessments.

“Ministers will take the JBC risk assessments into account alongside wider public health factors to inform watchlists and make their decisions. As with all our coronavirus measures, we keep these lists under constant review and our priority remains to protect the health of the UK public.”

The health minister informed that JBC analyses a range of qualitative and quantitative indicators to assess each country.

“The vast majority of data used to inform the risk assessment is in the public domain; however, some data cannot be published due to the privacy risks that disclosure may have on individuals or groups. To support decision making, JBC focuses the final assessment around three main criteria so that Ministers know where the risks lie: genomic surveillance capability; Covid19 transmission risk; and variant transmission risk.”

UAE to resume visas for tourists vaccinated against Covid-19

TTP’s matter for Pakistan to resolve, not Afghanistan: Taliban

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has announced it will resume issuing visas to all tourists fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from Monday, a month before Dubai hosts the delayed Expo 2020 trade fair.

The move comes amid a drop in coronavirus infections in the oil-rich Gulf country after it reported less than 1,000 cases per day last week for the first time in months. The decision to reopen the doors to tourists from all countries was taken in order “to achieve sustainable recovery and economic growth”, the official WAM news agency reported on Saturday.

Those eligible would have to be fully inoculated with one of the Covid-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation, which include AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinopharm and Sinovac. “The decision applies to citizens of all countries, including those arriving from previously banned countries,” WAM said. “Passengers arriving on tourist visas must take a mandatory PCR test at the airport,” it added. The UAE is made up of seven emirates including the capital Abu Dhabi and Dubai. While life in the country has largely returned to normal amid the Covid pandemic, it continues to enforce strict rules on wearing masks and social distancing. Dubai was last year counting on the sixmonth Dubai Expo 2020 — delayed a year by the health crisis and now set to open in October — to attract millions of visitors and boost the economy.

Heavily reliant on tourism, the emirate was one of the first destinations to open its doors to travellers, accepting tourists in July last year, just a few months after the pandemic took hold. Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, has been more cautious, opening up to some visitors only in December. The UAE has so far recorded more than 715,000 cases of Covid-19 infection, including 2,036 deaths. AFP

Speaking on the issue of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban’s spokesperson stated that it is not for Afghanistan to resolve but must be solved by the Pakistani government and ulema.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid made the above comments during an interview with a private news channel when he was questioned if Taliban leaders would ask the TTP to not engage in conflict with Pakistan, reported Tribune.

“It is dependent upon Pakistan, and Pakistani ulema, not the Taliban, to decide whether or not the TTP’s war is legitimate and to formulate a strategy in response”.

He emphasised that the future Afghan government, made under the Taliban, would have a rightful say regarding the matter.

“However, our stance is that the Afghan soil will not be used by anyone to destroy the peace of another country,” he maintained, adding that if the TTP considered the Taliban their leaders they would follow their orders.

According to the spokesperson, full-fledged efforts are being made to create a govern-

ment in Afghanistan. However, he added that there have been minor setbacks.

“Entering Kabul suddenly and taking over the government was unanticipated. We want to hold wide-ranging talks regarding the formation of a government so that a strong government can be created,” he said.

Mujahid reiterated that the Taliban wanted to put an end to the war and create a system with everyone’s input and representation of the people’s wishes.

The spokesperson hoped the Taliban would make an announcement regarding the formation of a new government in a few days.

He further claimed that advice from talks with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and former chief executive officer, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, besides former vice presidents, Yunus Qanuni and Abdul Rashid Dostum, is being considered.

“We are consulting all leaders present in Kabul. We are in touch with them, and their recommendations are important to us,” he added.

Mujahid stated that the Taliban will avoid the inclusion of

those who were at the centre of the conflict in the past, and instead opt for individuals who have peoples’ support.

He reiterated that leaders of the past will not be sidelined and will be consulted routinely.

Commenting on the control of the Panjshir valley, where an anti-Taliban resistance under Ahmed Massoud of the National Resistance Front has escalated, Mujahid claimed that the militant group is “60 percent confident that the issue can be resolved through talks”.

The spokesperson said the Taliban want to bring Panjshir under their control and hoped it would not come down to a war.

“This way the honour of the people there will remain intact, and we will treat them with respect,” he added.

Mujahid maintained that the leaders in Panjshir had indicated they do not want war in talks with the Taliban.

According to the spokesperson, if a war did break out the Taliban’s victory would be swift because they have the valley “surrounded” and are present in Badakhshan, Paghman, and Takharo Parwan. News Desk

Veteran Afghan strongmen to form new front for negotiating with Taliban A band of veteran Afghan leaders, including two regional strongmen, are angling for talks with the Taliban and plan to meet within weeks to form a new front for holding negotiations on the country’s next government, a member of a group said. Khalid Noor, son of Atta Mohammad Noor, the once-powerful governor of northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province, said the group comprised of veteran ethnic Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum and others opposed to the Taliban’s takeover. “We prefer to negotiate collectively, because it is not that the problem of Afghanistan will be solved just by one of us,” Noor, 27, told Reuters in an interview from an undisclosed location. “So, it is important for the entire political community of the country to be involved, especially the traditional leaders, those with power, with public support,” Noor said. Atta Noor and Dostum, veterans of four decades of conflict in Afghanistan, both fled the country when the northern city of Mazar-i Sharif fell to the Taliban without a fight. The US-backed government and military folded elsewhere as the Taliban swept into Kabul on August 15. However, the backroom discussions are a sign of the country’s traditional strongmen coming back to life after the Taliban’s stunning military campaign. It will be a challenge for any entity to rule Afghanistan for long without consensus between the country’s patchwork of ethnicities, most analysts say.

Unlike their previous period in power before 2001, the predominantly Pakhtun Taliban did seek support from Tajiks, Uzbeks and other minorities as they prepared their offensive last month. “The Taliban at this point are very, very arrogant because they just won militarily. But what we assume [is] that they know the risk of ruling the way they did before,” Noor said, referring to the previous Taliban regime’s exclusion of minority ethnic groups. ‘Surrender out of question’ Despite a commitment to negotiations, Noor said there was a “huge risk” that the talks could fail, leading the group to already prepare for armed resistance against the Taliban. “Surrender is out of the question for us,” said Noor, the youngest member of the erstwhile Afghan government’s team that held talks with the Taliban in Qatar. Ahmad Massoud, leader of Afghanistan’s last major outpost of anti-Taliban resistance, last week also said he hoped talks with the Taliban would lead to an inclusive government, failing which his forces were ready to fight. It remains uncertain how much popular support is actually enjoyed by leaders like Atta Noor, widely accused of corruption, and Dostum, accused of multiple acts of torture and brutality, and described in a US State Department report as a “quintessential warlord”. Both leaders deny the accusations. The Taliban, already a formidable military force, are now in possession of an estimated 2,000 armoured vehicles and up to 40 aircraft, among other arms left behind by fleeing Afghan forces, potentially bolstering their firepower. Still, Noor said the Taliban would not be able to hold out against popular resistance. “History has shown that no one in Afghanistan can rule by force, it is impossible,” the Western-educated politician said, “No matter how much support they have from the international community, it will fail.” ReuteRs

US in final phase of Kabul evacuations as Taliban say ready to take over airport KABUL ReuteRs

US forces are in the final phase of leaving Kabul, ending two decades of involvement in Afghanistan, and just over 1,000 civilians at the airport remain to be flown out before troops withdraw, a Western security official said on Sunday.

The country’s new Taliban rulers are prepared to take control of the airport, said an official from the hardline movement that has swept across Afghanistan, crushing the US-backed government.

The Western security official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters a date and time for the end of the operation was yet to be decided.

President Joe Biden has said he will stick by his deadline to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by Tuesday, 20 years after they invaded Kabul and ousted the Taliban government for shielding the perpetrators of

the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“We want to ensure that every foreign civilian and those who are at risk are evacuated today. Forces will start flying out once this process is over,” said the official, who is stationed at the airport.

The Western-backed government and Afghan army melted away as the Taliban entered the capital on August 15, leaving an administrative vacuum that has bolstered fears of a financial collapse and widespread hunger.

Under a deal with the United States, the Taliban has said it will allow foreigners and Afghans who wish to leave to fly out. The United States and its allies have taken about 113,500 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks, but tens of thousands who want to go will be left behind.

A US official told Reuters on Saturday there were fewer than 4,000 troops left at the airport, down from 5,800 at the peak of the evacuation mission. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters some troops had

been withdrawn but declined to say how many remained.

The Taliban official told Reuters the group had engineers and technicians ready to take charge of the airport.

“We are waiting for the final nod from the Americans to secure full control over Kabul airport as both sides aim for a swift handover,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Western security official said crowds at the airport gates had diminished after a specific warning from the US government of another attack by militants after a suicide bombing outside the airport on Thursday.

The explosion killed scores of Afghans and 13 American troops outside the gates of the airport, where thousands of Afghans had gathered to try to get a flight out since the Taliban returned to power.

The United States said on Friday it killed two militants belonging to the so-called Is-

lamic State — enemies of both the West and Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers — which had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Biden had vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of the explosion and said the strike was not the last.

TAKING OVER: The Taliban condemned the late-night US drone strike, which took place in Nangarhar province, an eastern area that borders Pakistan.

“The Americans should have informed us before conducting the air strike. It was a clear attack on Afghan territory,” a Taliban spokesman told Reuters, adding that two women and a child were wounded in the attack.

The Taliban have said they have arrested some suspects involved in the airport blast.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Saturday the Taliban would take over the airport “very soon” after US forces withdraw and announce a full cabinet in the coming days.

Mujahid told Reuters the group had ap-

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

pointed governors and police chiefs in all but one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces and would act to solve the country’s economic problems.

The Taliban, facing the loss of billions of dollars of aid for the country, appealed to the United States and other Western nations to maintain diplomatic relations after withdrawing. Britain said that should happen only if the Taliban allow safe passage for those who want to leave and respect human rights.

US military and allied countries’ flights carried fewer people on Saturday as Washington prepared to end its mission.

The last British flight evacuating civilians from Afghanistan left Kabul on Saturday. British troops would take small numbers of Afghan citizens with them as they leave this weekend, a defence ministry spokesperson said. Armed forces chief Nick Carter said hundreds of people who had worked with Britain would not make it through.